Field Study and Internships

Home Undergraduate Program Field Study and Internships

All majors are strongly encouraged to undertake either field study in Latin America, the Caribbean, or a Latino community in the United States, or formal academic study abroad through the Education Abroad Program. These paths are the best ways to polish your language skills, to explore the nature and direction of your own specific academic and career interests related to Latin American and Latino studies, and to deepen cross-cultural understanding and relations based on personal experience.

Local opportunities for internship and field study in Latino Communities on California's Central Coast are numerous. The LALS department maintains ties with a variety of local organizations which offer field study and internship opportunities to LALS majors. Credit for local field study or internship ranges from two to fifteen units per quarter. Please see the LALS office for a listing of local field study opportunities.

In addition, the LALS core and participating faculty also collaborate with national and international organizations which support full-time field study or internship opportunities. Please see the LALS Undergraduate Advisor or field study coordinator with questions about full-time field study.

LALS internship and field study courses may be undertaken only by petition and with prior approval from both your faculty sponsor and your site supervisor. Visit the LALS office and pick up a Petition for LALS Internship/Field Study as well as a Petition for Undergraduate Individual Studies Course. Bring both petitions, including a project abstract and timeline, first to your faculty sponsor, then to your site supervisor at the organization where you will be conducting the internship or field study, and then to the LALS office for approval. The Undergraduate Advisor will then issue you a call number for enrollment.

Click here to obtain an "undergraduate special study" form (also available at the LALS office)