Each year, a dozen or so Colby students, many of them Government majors, spend a semester working, learning, and living in the nation's capital.  Colby's Washington Program is an intensive internship experience, administered by The Washington Center and supervised by a member of the Government Department. Students live in apartments in the Maryland or Virginia  suburbs of Washington, a short Metro ride from downtown. 

Colby in Washington students are "employed" in a variety of internships — in government agencies, on Capitol Hill, for interest groups and lobbyists, with news media outlets — typically working about 35 hours per week. They also take a short course through The Washington Center and write a long, 4 Credit research paper for a faculty member at Colby (this paper satisfies the Government Department's research and writing requirement).  Government majors will normally write the research paper under the supervision of the Director of the Colby in Washington Program. Students in other departments may write a government paper with the Director or may seek an advisor in another department; in that case, the independent study will be listed under the academic department of the faculty advisor.

Students in the Washington Program earn 10 non-graded credits for the Washington internship, 1 non-graded credit for the course sponsored by the Washington Center, and 4 graded credits for the Independent Study component of the program.  Government majors may count the Washington Internship and Independent Study as two of their ten courses towards the completion of the major.

The Director of the Colby in Washington Program for 2006-2007 is Professor Reisert (x5316).