Take strategic steps toward your dream career by pursuing hands-on learning opportunities that align with your goals.
At Willamette, experience-based learning isn’t the exception – it’s built into our curriculum. With personalized support from your Willamette advisors and professors, you will connect with internships, research projects, and learning beyond campus.
You will have the opportunity to participate in research here on campus in our state-of-the-art labs or conduct field research across the country or on the other side of the world. Students have utilized emerging technology to study ruins in Greece, used grant funding to preserve the ecosystem off the Washington coast, and advocated for policy change across the street at the Oregon State Capitol.
An internship is one of the best ways to bolster your education, build your resume, and gain hands-on professional experience. Internships offer the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in the classroom to the real world and expand your network.
At Willamette, our ties to the community run deep. We have established relationships with industry-leading businesses and startups as well as connections to the public sector through our proximity to the Oregon State Capitol.
“I’m passionate about pursuing a career in women’s health equity, especially supporting non-profits, so this internship provided valuable experience with both. This internship [with Odyssey World International Education Services] has already supported and furthered my career pursuits by connecting me with other organizations in the field.”
Each of the advisors in our Career Center have a specialized area of focus and specifically work with students studying within those areas. Students receive highly individualized advising and build personal relationships with their advisor and professors.
Willamette’s study abroad program provides the opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture and develop a new perspective on your studies and the world around you. Connect with people from different backgrounds, share ideas, and participate in learning opportunities hosted by an international partner school.
Studying abroad builds skills such as adaptability, communication, and problem solving as you navigate a new environment. It is also a great way to develop fluency in another language.
“Getting to live with a host family, commuting to school by train every morning and night, and wandering through the Tokyo streets in my free time has allowed me to better look into the heart of Japanese society.”
Willamette’s experiential learning curriculum is supported by a combined $9 million in endowed funds and donor gifts, helping provide students with a wide range of opportunities to pursue research, study abroad, and learning beyond the classroom.
Funds student-led research projects. During their sophomore and junior year, students are eligible to apply for a Carson grant to support scholarly, creative, or professional research. Students can use this grant here on campus or abroad.
Supports student research projects during the summer between their first and second year of undergraduate coursework. Projects funded by the Colloquium Grant must be related to the subject of the student’s College Colloquium, taken during freshman year.
Available to students who have the opportunity to pursue either an unpaid or low-paid internship. These funds are offered to increase students’ access to professional experiences.
Our proximity to Oregon’s center of government, and our deep ties to the surrounding area, provides our students with opportunities you won’t find anywhere else.
Through coursework and internships, Willamette students have shadowed legislators at the Capitol, conducted research at the State Archives, and studied the ecology of the Pacific Northwest at Willamette University at Zena – our 305-acre living laboratory.
“While I was in undergrad, we went inside the Oregon State Penitentiary for my ‘Reforming Criminal Justice’ class. We got to learn from adults in custody what the criminal justice system is like for them and how they can interact with restorative and transformational justice systems. So I’ve been able to, from my undergraduate career, pick up what criminal justice is like from that side, and from my law education and clerkship, see the prosecution and state side. It’s preparing me in a unique way for my career.”
The Office of Civic Engagement facilitates opportunities for students to have a positive impact on their community and live out the Willamette mission of pursuing lives of purpose.
Willamette students can become catalysts in the community, teaming up with campus groups, faculty, and community partners to promote equity, sustainability, and institutional support in Salem and the surrounding area. Student catalysts participate in advocacy that affects different aspects of the city including equitable education, climate justice & sustainability, food security, healthy aging, housing for all, and welcoming new neighbors.
Through internships and volunteer work, students gain relevant experience and take steps toward a safer, more inclusive community.
With a student to faculty ratio of 12:1, your Willamette professors can get to know you on an individual basis. As they become familiar with your goals and interests, they can connect you with opportunities that align with those goals.
Experiential learning at Willamette is designed to turn your education into momentum. You may leave with a portfolio, research and presentation experience, internship credits, faculty mentorship, professional connections, and a stronger sense of where you want to go next. Along the way, you’ll build your resume, strengthen your graduate school applications, present at conferences, contribute to published work, and form relationships that can lead to your future.
The result is an education that prepares you for life after college, whether you are starting your career or continuing your studies, with confidence, purpose, and direction.
Willamette University