Internships
Employers are eager to offer internships to students who bring the skills of a Valpo geography major to the workplace.
The Valpo geography program strongly encourages students to make use of their skills in a professional setting. In fact, professional experience in the form of either field research or an internship is required for the bachelor of science in geography. With department approval, students earn academic credit for relevant internships, either during the academic year or over the summer months.
Students identify and apply for internships, and geography professors are invaluable resources to help students find appropriate positions and negotiate the application process. The Valpo Career Center, too, is a key asset, providing strategies and advising on finding relevant internships. The Career Center also maintains a database of internship openings and potential cooperative education placements.
Geography-related internships are plentiful and diverse. The recent proliferation of geospatial data from a variety of sources makes competence in Global Information Systems technology extremely attractive to employers in a broad range of fields, and Valpo students have used these and other skills taught by the program to procure enviable internships in recent years.
Some Internship Sites
- Porter County Development and Storm Water Management (GIS)
- Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, University of Michigan (Urban forestry)
- Indiana Dunes National Park (interpretation, research)
- City of Valparaiso, Indiana (Urban Planning)
- Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission (GIS, Urban Planning, and Transportation Planning)
- Bureau of Land Management, Ely Field Office, Nev. (GIS/GPS)
- Porter County, E-911/Public Safety Office, Valparaiso, Ind. (GIS/GPS)
- Planning Department, City of Portage, Ind. (Urban Planning/GIS)
- Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Fla. (Environmental Management/GIS)
- Valassis Communications, Inc., Livonia, Mich. (Marketing/Business Geographics)
- National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C. (Geography Education, Cartography)
- Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Rantoul, Ill. (Environmental Management)
- Porter County Tourism Board, Chesterton, Ind. (Tourism/Marketing)
- Community Outreach Partnership Center, Valparaiso University, Ind. (Community Planning/GIS)
- Land Use Department, Will County, Joliet, Ill. (Urban Planning)
- Economic Development Department, NIPSCO, Merrillville, Ind. (Community Development/GIS)
- Planning and Growth Management Department, City of Peoria, Ill. (Urban Planning/GIS)
- Tall Tree Arboretum
- Long Island National Wildlife Refuge, N.Y.
- USGS Denver, Colo.
- Alaska National Forest