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You’ll work 20 hours per week (Mondays and Wednesdays all day, plus Friday mornings) at a professional internship in your field.  The internship is unpaid, but you earn six college credits and get invaluable work experience.  Moreover, with an unpaid internship you typically have more freedom to explore different roles and responsibilities on the job.  We’ll communicate with you prior to the semester to learn about your interests.  Then we’ll explore possible options here in the city.  By the time you arrive for orientation, we’ll aim to have two or three interviews lined up for you.  Then we’ll help you choose the best fit.

Can we find something in your field?  Consider this.  Pittsburgh is the economic, cultural, social, and religious hub for a metropolitan area of over two million people.  That means it’s a center for accounting, advertising, art, banking, business, conflict resolution, criminal justice, dance, education, environmentalism, finance, healthcare, IT, marketing, media, ministry, nutrition, politics, public relations, science, social work, and transportation…to name a few.  Pittsburgh is the corporate headquarters for several nationally-known companies (Heinz, American Eagle Outfitters, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Alcoa), has regional offices for many others (Ketchum Worldwide Communications, all the Big Four accounting firms), and supports a host of smaller, innovative companies and nonprofits.  Can we find something in your field?  We think so.

Recent internships have included World Vision, Fort Pitt Museum, Del Monte Foods, Light of Life Ministries, Eastminister Presbyterian Church, The Open Door Ministry, Neighborhood Legal Services Association, Wall to Wall Studios, Fulton Elementary School Counseling Center, The Pittsburgh Project, Allegheny Center Alliance Church Counseling Center, and The Union Project.

Once you begin the internship, we’ll stay in conversation to make sure all goes well. You will develop an Internship Learning Contract (ILC) to map out what you plan to accomplish at the site. Your on-site supervisor and Pittsburgh Semester staff will help you craft the ILC. Then in the middle of the semester and at the end, a Pittsburgh Semester staff member will visit your site to meet with you and your supervisor there.  At those sessions, you’ll summarize your accomplishments and your supervisor will give you feedback by reviewing a completed Midpoint Evaluation Form or Final Evaluation Form.

At Pittsburgh Semester, everyone takes the same three classes at the same time.  That enables us to talk, think, read, listen, and ask questions together.  We figure learning happens best when it’s communal, when everyone is involved in the process.  So we spend as much time in discussions as in lectures.  We don’t just read books alone; we talk about them together.  And we try our best to listen—to ourselves and others.  Finally, we’re always looking to link our classes with the broader city.  Pittsburgh is one of our texts, and we read it by taking field trips, hearing guest speakers, and analyzing our internships.  Below is a brief description of each class with a link to the full syllabus in PDF for more details.  Each class lasts five weeks.

The first class, The Human Experience in Urban Society, gives you an introduction to the city, with particular attention to Pittsburgh.  What are cities like and how do they shape our lives?  What exactly makes them different from other places?  As part of those questions, we will address topics such as the racial, economic, and religious diversity of urban centers.  And we’ll ask how the city is linked to other communities both near and far.

The second class, The Search for Meaning, explores different perspectives of the good life.  In short, how can one live a life of meaning and moral purpose in the contemporary world (especially in cities)?  In addition to core reading assignments, you’ll do a research project related to your internship in which you highlight a moral dilemma from work and explore resolutions.  (How might a bank resist redlining and invest in poor communities?  How can companies include the environment as a silent stakeholder in their business plans?)  The project will culminate in group presentations.

The final class will address Christian Vocation.  How can believers connect faith to the breadth of our lives?  In addition to core reading, you’ll spend the last two weeks on individual projects developing your own vocational vision.  The project will blend reading and reflection.  You’ll be encouraged to consider Christian vocation broadly, including paid labor, volunteer work, the family, the local community, the broader human community, and the environment.  The project will culminate in a paper.

Every Friday afternoon, we break from our routine of working and studying for service projects. You may end up visiting the home of an elderly shut-in or helping to lead recreational events for kids in our neighborhood. Maybe you’ll pull some weeds from our community garden, assist with our recycling program, or volunteer at a major food distribution center. We’ll arrange the placement for you and make sure you get one where you can keep returning so that you really get to know the community and your neighbors. And once relationships develop, we think you’ll see that service goes both ways. You’ll offer your time for a half day each week, but you’ll learn and receive every bit as much as you give.