uUniversity of Alabama
PSC 399 – Montgomery Experience
Interim, 2009
3 credit hours

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Montgomery Experience will provide UA students with an opportunity to gain both practical and academic knowledge about Alabama government and politics through a combination of full-time work in Montgomery a government or political internship, relevant readings about state government, and presentations/Q&A sessions with state public officials and policymakers.

PREREQUISITES
None. PSC 101 and/or PSC 211 would be useful preparation, particularly for non-PSC majors, but are not required.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1.) Students will gain real-world knowledge about the backgrounds and daily worklife of employees of state government agencies or political organizations, in order to enhance their own preparation for a possible career related to politics and government.

2.) Students will gain first-hand knowledge of the workings of a governmental or political agency, association, or organization.

3.) Students will gain an “insider’s” perspective on a particular policy issue or significant event during their three-week internship.

4.) Students will be able to relate their experience and observations to political scientists’ analysis of state government, politics, and policy more generally, as presented in a standard state government political science textbook.

GRADE COMPONENTS
(includes 4 assigned papers, attendance policy, and work evaluation)

(all four papers must be submitted by June 12; one or more papers may be submitted early if ready)

1.) MY CO-WORKERS: Who they are, what they do, why they do it, what they’ve learned. (target length: 3-4 pages, double-spaced. Worth 20% of final grade). Each student will write an essay discussing the biographies, backgrounds, responsibilities, viewpoints, and career advice of two of their professional supervisors/employers in their assigned agency or organization. After reporting the substance of their interviews, students will comment on and evaluate what they have learned from the interviews, and how they might affect students’ future plans concerning involvement in state politics.

2.) MY ORGANIZATION/AGENCY: HISTORY, STRUCTURE, OPERATION (target length 3-4 pages, double-spaced. Worth 25% of final grade). Each student will write an essay describing the history, organization, and workings of the whole agency or organization to which they are assigned. Students are to aim their discussion at a relatively intelligent high school student or adult foreigner who knows little about the workings of US state government.

3.) MY INSIGHT ON AN IMPORTANT POLICY ISSUE OR EVENT THAT WAS PROMINENT DURING MY INTERNSHIP (target length 3-4 pages, double-spaced. Worth 25% of final grade). One of the advantages of an internship is that it gives you special insight or knowledge about an issue (e.g. school funding) or a political event (e.g. an ethics investigation of a state official) that would be difficult to get if you were not working in the state capital. Please discuss the “Montgomery perspective” you gained on a particular issue or event that attracted attention outside Montgomery, but which somehow involved your employing agency or organization. (If discussing an event, it need not have occurred during the exact three weeks of your stay. However, the event in question, whether occurring before or after your internship, should have somehow affected or caused a reaction, comment, and/or response in your employing organization or agency. ) The event or issue need not have been something you worked on personally, but it should be something that those around you witnessed personally or were working on.

4.) JOURNAL/BLOG (Worth 20% of final grade). Students will keep a daily blog or journal about their activities at work and elsewhere. The blogs/journals will focus on the student’s job, extracurricular activities related to state government, relating experiences to concepts or ideas learned in class, and/or political events that happen during the student’s tenure as an intern (and so will help form the raw materials for #3 above). Students can choose either to make their journal or blog available in real time, or can submit the completed journal or blog the week after the internship is completed. Journals or blogs will be graded based on documentation of detail and evidence of learning/insight gained from the internship experience.

5.) SUPERVISOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Each student is required to work at least 32 hours a week at the office or agency to which he or she is assigned. The student’s immediate work supervisor will have agreed to monitor and supervise the student’s hours at work. At the close of the term, each student’s immediate supervisor will provide a written essay evaluating the quality and effort demonstrated in the student’s work as an intern, including an overall numerical grade (on a scale of 0 – 100) reflecting the student’s overall performance. Unless the instructor has compelling reason to do otherwise, this supervisor-assigned grade will make up 10% of the student’s final course grade.

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT POLICY

All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct.  This includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of information, misrepresentations, and abetting of any of the above.  The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event that academic misconduct occurs.  Students should refer to the Student Affairs Handbook, which can be obtained in the Office of Student Life and Services in the Ferguson Center.

MAKEUP POLICY
Because there are no scheduled exams or quizzes for this course, makeups should generally not be an issue. However, if documented health or family crises or situations prevent a student from working 32 hours a week during any of the three weeks of the term, s/he should inform his/her employer and the instructor as soon as possible to make alternative arrangements. In addition, if documented health or family problems prevent the student from submitting papers by June 12 (e-mail submissions are always acceptable), the student should contact the instructor about making alternative arrangements. The instructor reserves the right to refuse to schedule makeup work or extensions for students who do not make a timely effort to notify him of problems or delays.

DISABILITY POLICY

To request disability accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at (205) 348-4285. After initial arrangements are made with that office, contact your professor.