FALL 2021

DEADLINE:  19 JULY 2021

ABOUT THE ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBT community, advancing racial justice, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties and civil rights cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach. With more than one million members, activists, and supporters, the ACLU is a nationwide organization that fights tirelessly in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., for the principle that every individual’s rights must be protected equally under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, national origin, and record of arrest or conviction.

INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW

The ACLU seeks a Research Intern for Fall 2021. This intern is a part of ACLU’s Research Team and reports to the Director of Research. The Research Team is housed in the Communications Department of the ACLU’s National Office in New York City, and liaises with the Executive Department. The Intern, like the rest of the staff, will work remotely. In addition to the Director of Research, the Research Team includes a post-doctoral Research Fellow (ACLS/Mellon Fell0w) and a Graduate Research Intern. The Research Team leads ACLU’s policy research program through collaboration with legal, advocacy, and communications staff across the organization. The PublicLabs Research Intern would focus specifically on developing ACLU’s “research learning lab” program for ACLU affiliates across the country. The learning lab is designed to increase affiliate’s capacity to conduct, publish, and use research effectively.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work with Director of Research to develop a new program – “research learning lab” for affiliates that will provide affiliate staff with support, guidance, and collaboration opportunities related to conducting and releasing empirical research.
• Create and implement a plan for learning about ACLU affiliate experiences and needs regarding conducting and releasing empirical research.
• Inventory and assess existing research publications from ACLU affiliates
• Work with the team to design the structure and content of the learning lab program, including an evaluation component.
• Coordinate the implementation of the program, e.g. scheduling, outreach, developing materials (time and schedule dependent)
• Participate in regular meetings with the Research team, Communications Department, and occasional cross-departmental meetings.
• Other duties to support the work of ACLU’s research team.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Current doctoral student in the humanities or humanistic social sciences
• Familiarity with empirical research
• Experience and confidence gathering data via interviews and questionnaires, and drawing conclusions from the data
• Strong attention to detail
• Organization and planning skills
• Interest in working at a non-profit, civil rights organization
• Commitment to the mission of the ACLU
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, comfort in using or learning Zoom
• Ability to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and/or conflicts
• Commitment to working in an office that values all individuals and respects differences in regards to race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability and socio-economic circumstance, record of arrest or conviction

The ACLU is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. The ACLU encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status, and record of arrest or conviction.  

This internship will consist of approximately 150 hours of work over the course of the Fall 2021 semester. It will be compensated with 3 units of academic credit through IDS 81620: Scholarly Praxis at Work in the World. If you have questions about the course, please contact instructor Dr. Stacy Hartman at shartman2@gc.cuny.

Interested students should apply through GC Connect, where it is Job #19243. The deadline is 19 July 2021. You can also search using the tag “scholarly praxis.”

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