Internships and Independent Studies

All concentrators in the Women’s and Gender Studies program complete a 3-credit practicum through either an internship or an independent study.

Students have recently completed internships with:

Independent Study

An independent study allows a WGS student the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member on a specific topic or creative project. Think of the independent study as a chance to explore a topic or develop a project related to WGS that you might not otherwise have a chance to pursue.

Recent independent study topics include:

Female Sexuality in Young Adult fiction
Domestic Abuse in American Film
LGBTQ Housing options at Drake
Opera and Gender
Vicarious Trauma
First Ladies of the United States
Patriarchy and Sex
“Spicy” BookTok Romances and Women’s Sexual Habits
The Balanced Objectification Hypothesis and How it is Theoretically and Statistically Affected by Power
Feminist Agency in the Theater

Credit hour guidelines for Internships and Independent studies:

According to “Credit Hour Policy at Drake University,” credit hours of independent studies and internships must be reasonably equivalent to the standard of 3 hours combined direct instruction and student work per week, per credit hour for a 15-week semester. A 3-credit independent study or internship should require the equivalent of 9 hours of combined direct instruction and students work per week for the equivalent of a 15-week semester.

Given that the “course hour” is 50 minutes, this would be a baseline of:
112.5 total hours for the 3-credit hour course
75 total hours for the 2-credit hour course
37.5 total hours for the 1-credit hour course

For more information, please see the College of Arts & Sciences Request for Independent Study/Internship/Undergraduate Research Registration Form.

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