Because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, the department has been able to establish good contacts with leaders in Washington and frequently hosts campus visits of foreign diplomats and leading government figures.

Washington College has a reputation within the U.S. State Department for providing bright, articulate and highly motivated students to serve internships at its embassies abroad. Students have served at U.S. Embassies in Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and New Zealand, for instance. The International Studies department also has a working relationship with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), sending interns to work in places such as India, Bolivia, and Indonesia.

Each year, the College also sends a handful of selected students to participate in the Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government in London. In addition to working for a member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, students take classes at the London School of Economics and Political Science and complete a supervised research project. The Hansard Society internships run for a semester or for the summer.

Students can also intern in one of several areas in Tanzania. For future law students, the UN Criminal Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania is the perfect internship. For education majors, there is an internship with a public elementary school in a Tanzanian village. Finally, students can learn about economic development by interning at a local coffee plantation.