The RES Program relies mostly on its alumni and on Career Services to arrange local internships for current students. During past academic years, RES students received offers of local internships at the Kennan Institute of Advanced Russian Studies, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the World Bank, the Chechnya Justice Initiative and Population Services International.
Many students make their own arrangements for international internships or travel during the summer. Some take language immersion trips to the post-Soviet states.
RES provides partial funding for one or two internships in the countries of the former Soviet Union each summer. Past recipients have worked as journalists at the Moscow Times and a newspaper in Baku, Azerbaijan; as an analyst at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Georgia; and as a consultant for an Italian energy company in Kazakhstan. Others have served as staff members in various Russian companies and NGOs.
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"The internship at the office of the Prime Minister of Latvia was an invaluable experience in terms of acquiring practical skills as well as enhancing and applying (and sometimes challenging) my academic knowledge. As I was sharing the office with two of PM’s advisors, I gained a great insight of informal conversations and learnt about many practical aspects of the decision making process. I was working closely with the PM’s advisor for agricultural and economics. My background in economics, gained during the first year of SAIS, definitely benefited me and allowed him to assign me a much wider scope of duties and responsibilities."
Gunta Niparte, M.A. Candidate, Russian and Eurasian Studies program, Class of 2011
"I was a U.S. State Department Intern at the Political and Economic Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok, Russia during the summer of 2009. Through the process of summarizing Russian articles in English and requesting interviews with locals, I had the opportunity to practice the Russian language extensively during the course of my internship. I also interacted with people in Russian extensively during my free time.Through the internship, I gained a better understanding of both how a U.S. Consulate abroad is managed and the type of work that is done at a U.S. Consulate abroad. This understanding of how State Department consulates operate will be beneficial when I take the U.S. Foreign Service Oral Exam."
James Freeman, M.A. Candidate, RES program, Class of 2010