Professional Roles and Responsibilities - Faculty and Academic Professional Staff
Graduate Public Service Internship Program (GPSI)
UIS offers the Graduate Public Service Internship Program (GPSI) to provide graduate students with an opportunity to simultaneously begin a professional career in public service while earning a master’s degree. Students from all academic backgrounds with a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.5 or better are welcome to apply.
The GPSI program seeks to:
- attract to public service high quality college graduates who might not otherwise enter professional public service careers;
- prepare these graduates for the professional work world; and
- assist efforts to attract qualified candidates, including affirmative action candidates, to public service.
Interns begin working in a participating agency on August 16 of the year of entry and complete the program 21 months later, or sooner depending on the degree requirements for the intern’s academic program. During the academic year (August 16 to May 15), interns work on a half-time basis while enrolled for nine credit hours of graduate study per semester at UIS. During the intervening summer, from May 16 to August 15, interns work full-time with the agency and may enroll in four hours of course work at UIS. First semester GPSI interns are required to enroll in the GPSI seminar course, which provides exposure to the organizational-bureaucratic environment within the context of the internship experience.
GPSI benefits include:
- monthly stipend of $950 per month during the academic year and $1,900 per month during the summer;
- tuition waiver not to exceed 40 credit hours: 9 hours each fall, 9 hours each spring and 4 hours over the summer semester between first and second year of grad school;
- partial fee waiver; and
- modest allowance for professional development.
Applicants must submit both a standard application for admission to the UIS Office of Admissions and a GPSI application to the Office of Graduate Studies. Students may apply online at www.uis.edu/admissions/apply.html. Official transcripts from each college or university attended should be forwarded to the UIS Office of Admissions. In addition, the GPSI program requires three recommendation letters within the past one and one-half years (two from faculty, one from an employer), a current resume and personal goal statement. All forms are available on the GPSI website at http://gpsi.uis.edu. Applicant files must be complete in the GPSI Office by March 15 for first round interview consideration.
Participating agencies select candidates they wish to interview. First round GPSI interviews are held annually in April in Springfield, Illinois. Candidates are notified in early May if they have one or more GPSI placement offers. All GPSI internships begin annually on August 16. Candidates who interview pay their own travel expenses and arrange their own overnight lodging. The GPSI program also has a late applicant pool each year after the March 15 first round deadline for second round interviews held in June. Selection as a candidate does not guarantee placement as an intern.
- Location: BRK 475
- Contact: (217) 206-6158
