SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Environmental Studies

mural of plants and bugs

Internship Program and Career Resources

The Environmental Studies Department offers our internship program to allow our majors and non-majors to earn academic credit for internships. We aim to connect students with internship experiences that provide career exploration and enhance their career readiness. Learn more about our other experiential learning opportunities and field study options on our Field Study and Experiential Learning page.

We also want to help our students and alumni discover exciting career paths and opportunities. Use this page to find resources and organizations aligned with your career goals and interests.

ENVS Internship Program

How to contact advising

Undergraduate students can contact our internship advisor by:

  • Emailing the internship office at esintern@ucsc.edu
  • Visiting us in person during drop-in hours at 491 Interdisciplinary Sciences Building (ISB)
  • Joining our Zoom drop-in hours
  • Scheduling a 30-minute Zoom appointment by logging in to Slug Success or the Navigate app
    • On your Home Page, click “Appointments” then “Schedule an Appointment”
    • On the New Appointment page, select “Advising” and then “Internships” from the dropdown
    • Pick a date, click “Find Available Times” and select a time that works for you
    • A confirmation email with a Zoom link will be sent once your appointment is scheduled

Internship course options

Review the ENVS Internship Course Comparison to learn more about your course requirements.

  • ENVS 84 Syllabus – Lower division 2-unit internship
  • ENVS 83 Syllabus – Lower division 5-unit internship
  • ENVS 183 Syllabus – Upper division 5-unit internship
  • ENVS 183 A&B Syllabus: Two course series. Students must take both. 
    • ENVS 183A – first quarter of senior exit, upper division 5-unit credit
    • ENVS 183B – second quarter of senior exit, completes senior exit, 5-unit credit

Course assignments and resources

Key due dates

Deadline to enroll

Enroll for course by Monday of Week 2

  • ENVS 83
  • ENVS 183
  • ENVS 183A (with strong recommendation to connect with faculty in previous quarter)
  • ENVS 183B

Enroll for course by Monday of Week 3

ENVS 84

How to add an internship course

Step 1: Find an agency sponsor

Review the Available Environmental Studies Internships.

Email an agency to ask them to sponsor your 2-unit or 5-unit internship.

You can copy our Agency Sponsor Email Template.

Step 2: Find a faculty sponsor

Review the ENVS Faculty Sponsor List.

Email an ENVS faculty to ask them to sponsor your 2-unit or 5-unit internship. You can copy our Faculty Sponsor Email Template

5-unit courses: Contact a faculty whose expertise matches your internship

2-unit course: Contact any ENVS faculty to sponsor your internship

Step 3: Register for your course

After an agency and a faculty agree to sponsor you, submit the ENVS Internship Course: Student Enrollment Form

After you submit the form: The Internship Office will send you a Docusign via your UCSC email to confirm your understanding of the internship course expectations. Once you sign, the Docusign will be sent to your Agency Sponsor for their confirmation. After your Agency Sponsor signs, the Docusign will be sent to your Faculty Sponsor for their confirmation. Once your Faculty Sponsor signs, you will receive an enrollment code from our office to manually register for the internship course. You will be added to Canvas after registering.

Student guidelines

We expect student interns to represent UCSC and the Environmental Studies Department professionally and set a positive example for other interns. You must notify your agency sponsor if you cannot work and actively engage as a contributing member of the agency staff. You should schedule regular check-ins with both faculty and agency supervisors where you can: set clear, achievable goals with agency and faculty sponsors; learn and follow agency policies and procedures; reflect on and evaluate meetings and activities; and seek guidance from your sponsor for unresolved issues.

Week 1 expectations
  • Enroll in a 2-unit or 5-unit internship course by our office deadline to receive academic credit for their internship hours.
  • Review ENVS Internship Course Comparison to familiarize yourself with your course syllabus and assignments. 
  • Accept the internship course Canvas invitation. All assignments are submitted on Canvas for Faculty Sponsor’s to review.
  • Review our deadlines for this quarter.
Week 5-6 expectations
  • All Interns: Write a midterm report and ask your agency sponsor to sign your report. Submit the signed report on Canvas. Faculty will sign midterm by commenting “I approve” on Canvas. This comment will serve as their electronic signature. 
  • ENVS 83 and ENVS 84 Interns Only: Fill out your timesheet up to the end of Week 5 and ask your agency sponsor to sign it. 2-unit interns have worked 30 hours and 5-unit interns have worked 60 hours by the end of Week 5. Submit your signed timesheet on Canvas.
Week 10 expectations
  • All Interns: Submit Student Evaluation of Agency
  • ENVS 83, 84, 183 Only: Submit weekly journal entries
  • ENVS 83, 84, 183, 183A: Submit final reflective paper
  • ENVS 83 and ENVS 84 Interns Only: Fill out your final timesheet up to the end of Week 10 and ask your agency sponsor to sign it. 2-unit interns have worked 60 hours and 5-unit interns have worked 120 hours by the end of the quarter. Submit your signed timesheet on Canvas.

Internship opportunities

This curated list includes available internship placement opportunities that have been vetted by the department. 

Career Resources

Tips for career exploration

  • Get experience: The best way to explore possible career pathways is to start getting experience in different areas of environmental work. Internships, field courses, and volunteer work are a few ways to get experience.
  • Conduct informational interviews: Conduct informational interviews with people who work in career industries of interest to you in order to gain insights into a career field or company and build your network. You can find folks to reach out to on LinkedIn.
  • Talk to faculty: Visit during office hours with environmental studies faculty or lecturers and ask them if they have advice for you. Tell them about your interests, passions, and experience (and if you still need to gain experience, that’s okay). You can ask them about grad school, too.
  • Discover where our alumni have worked: Look at what kinds of jobs and graduate school programs environmental studies alumni have gone on to. This might give you ideas of possible careers or positions you could consider.
  • Reflect: Take some time each quarter to think about what classes, internships, or other experiences you enjoy, as well as what you don’t want. Sometimes, we speed through life and don’t stop to think about whether our activities are a good fit for our strengths and interests. Keeping track of these reflections will help guide you toward a career that works for you.
  • Meet with a career coach: The UCSC Career Success office has career coaches  on staff who are available to meet with students one-on-one.  
  • Additional resources: Social Work, Climate Change, and Environmental Justice, a guide to support future social workers as they prepare for a career working on environmentally related issues, and Writing For Nature: Finding Work, which provides a list of job boards for environmental and conservation positions.

Job search tips 

Current students 

Even if you’re not currently looking for a job, browsing job boards is a great way to get a sense of what kinds of jobs are out there and what positions you may be interested in. Explore different job descriptions to see which ones appeal to you and what kinds of experience they expect candidates to have and how you can meet those. Are there classes, internships, or volunteer work you can do to prepare?

Alumni

If you’re looking for your first job out of college, you should apply for a range of positions: jobs that are slightly below your qualification level through jobs that are slightly above your qualification level. It is okay to apply for a job even if you don’t meet all of the desired criteria. If you find a position that looks appealing, go to the company or organization’s website. Read the staff bios and the “about” page. Looking over the website may make you more or less interested in working with them or may give you questions that you’ll want to keep in mind for a potential interview. 

Job boards 

Abroad and seasonal employment

Conservation and sustainability
Development, engineering, and business
Ecology and biology
Federal
Local and state
Outdoor industry 
Water and marine

Last modified: Apr 11, 2025