Department Resources

International Relations at SF State has many opportunities for their students. Explore our organizations and view scholarship, internship opportunities and study abroad information.

Scholarships

Scholarships can be found through the College of Liberal and Creative Arts and/or through SF State's Academic Works portal.

Benny and May Chin Scholarship

To provide financial assistance to continuing and entering students SF State students with financial need, demonstrated academic achievement, and community involvement.

Award: $2,500

Dwight James Simpson Memorial Scholarship

To encourage and support the pursuit of knowledge for the Middle East.

Award: $3000

Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) Student Excellence Award

The Middle East and Islamic Studies Student Excellence Award recognizes outstanding course work of undergraduate students minoring in MEIS, students who pursue an emphasis in Middle East Studies in a Liberal and Creative Arts department that has such an emphasis, or students who will have completed at least two years in a Middle Eastern language by the time they graduate. Applicants should explain their decision to take courses in MEIS, as well as their career goals. Students on financial aid are given special consideration.

Award: An amount up to $2,000

The Turkish American Arts & Culture Scholarship

The Turkish American Arts & Culture Necati, Cihat, Ozgul & Metincan Esrefoglu Endowed scholarship assists promising students who are active in the Turkish community and in their studies of Turkey.
Award: Up to $1000

Marcus Undergraduate Research Assistant and Undergraduate Scholarship

The College of Liberal & Creative Arts is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the Marcus Undergraduate Research Assistantship Grant, an initiative aimed at promoting student research in collaboration with a faculty mentor.

Deadline for submission: March or April

Award amount and timing: $3,000 ($1,000 to the faculty member, $2,000 to the student. The grant can include up to two students, each of whom would receive $2,000. If applying for more than one student research assistant, indicate clearly the expected budget in the project abstract).

View the LCA Marcus page to learn more.

Funding Your Graduate Studies Program

* We (San Francisco State University) do not endorse any of the programs listed here or programs to which you may be referred by the listed sites. They are provided strictly for informational purposes.

Internships

Graduate Internships

Considered a global city, San Francisco is the birthplace of the United Nations. Its residents come from all over the world speaking 112 different languages. Poised as the gateway between America and the Pacific, it is adjacent to Silicon Valley and serves as a hub for developing economies in IT, digital media, clean technology and life sciences. Cosmopolitan, the city hosts 89 consulates and foreign trade offices, multinational corporations, hundreds of non-profits, and several regional offices of U.S. government agencies.

Internships provide excellent opportunities to network and gain professional skills.

Graduates of the SF State International Relations M.A. program have multiple exciting options after completing their degree requirements. Some students seek state government careers with positions in international governmental agencies, the U.S. State Department, U.S. intelligence agencies or the F.B.I. Others find positions in the non-profit sector, working in areas like development, the environment, health, human rights, international migration or women’s issues. Still others continue onto doctoral studies for careers in teaching and research in academia or work in think tanks and policy institutes. A small subset of our graduates choose opportunities in international business or go to law school. Internships that apply opportunities to apply classroom learning in workplace settings to acquire professional knowledge and skills, and to network for future employment are an important part of the Department of International Relations.

Graduate students choosing the Professional Emphasis for their M.A. degree customarily enroll in IR 892: Sponsored Graduate Internship in International Relations in their 3rd or 4th semesters and write their 'Culminating Experience' M.A. Final Report on research related to their internship experience. For more information, please consult the IR 892 Guidelines (docx).

International Relations Council

The International Relations Council is the Department of International Relations' Graduate Student association. The IRC serves to increase awareness of international issues among its members and among the greater campus community as well as to promote networking among its members who share a profound interest in the academic and professional fields of international relations. Therefore, the IRC’s purposes and goals include the following:

To provide a platform for academic and professional speakers to meet with students and discuss contemporary scholarship, salient international issues and employment opportunities;
To offer a venue for SF State Master’s degree students in International Relations and Political Science to present research papers and theses projects;
To enhance member’s knowledge of current events, volunteer opportunities, career development, scholarship and fellowship opportunities, and local programing through the maintenance of an independent IRC website;
To develop interdepartmental relationships between SF State’s International Relations and Political Science graduate departments;
To host career fairs or career workshops oriented to graduate students in the International Relations and Political Science departments; and
To promote public interest and information about students in the International Relations and Political Science graduate departments at SF State.

Connect with IRC on Facebook

Please note: The International Relations Council is currently inactive.

IRSA - International Relations Student Association

As a student based non-profit academic organization, the International Relations Student Association at SF State is dedicated to making educational resources more readily available to students and increasing coordination between students and faculty. We strive to increase student knowledge of international events which carry significant political, cultural and social relevance in our world. IRSA brings together undergraduate students from the SF State IR department for events, career and internship workshops, study groups and an annual graduation banquet in May.

For current information and updates, please visit the IRSA OrgSync page.

Job Resources

Generally speaking, students who do well in the program, develop a focused curriculum, seek relevant work/internship opportunities, make connections/leverage the networks of department faculty, and begin their job search early have greater success in locating the kind of work they desire. Those graduates who consider a wider range of geographic locales for employment tend to find more options. Especially if they are interested in work in diplomacy, international organizations or non-governmental organizations.

Conversation between delegates at conference

Conversation between delegates within non-formal negotiations during Model EU Conference, March 2023.

Four IR students at conference, outside, posing

SF State Department of International Relations students who have competed at the Model EU (left to right): Brandon Chase, Zen Lewis, Brittany Hernandez and Matheus Maynard Frank. Zen Lewis received the Outstanding Delegate Award for Head of Government at the Model EU Conference, March 2023.