Department of the Navy Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office

This is an unpaid internship that allows undergraduate and graduate students to participate in special projects conducted by the Department of the Navy Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (DON-SAPRO). DON-SAPRO writes sexual assault prevention and response policy, contracts and designs training, and conducts analysis of survey, law enforcement, and focus group data for the Secretary of the Navy. Interns who are selected will work directly with senior-level Navy and Marine leadership as well as civilian subject matter experts. DON-SAPRO and prospective interns will work together to create a semester-long project that is beneficial for both parties. Prospective interns should note that the material they will be exposed to may be graphic in nature.

Students interested in this internship should start the application process about 6 months prior to the semester they intend to intern.

Duties:

  • Conduct focused reviews of current interest topics related to sexual assault (i.e. literature reviews)

  • Assist ongoing research projects using SPSS for quantitative data analyses and augment with qualitative analyses
  • May include analysis of previous research detailing specifics about victims, perpetrators of sexual assault, modus operandi, and several other specifics about the cases involved
  • Meetings with the internship coordinator and fellow students
  • A journal of all activities and experiences

Assessment:

  • 42 hours of work per credit hour (most interns do 3 credits with 126 hours of work)  
  • Grade is based on on-campus supervision, agency evaluation, reflective journal, and a final paper

Pre-Requisites:

  1. Must meet all UMW and Department of Psychological Science internship requirements.
  2. Ability to pass a criminal background check
  3. Required courses:
    • PSYC 301 – Social Psychology or PSYC 211 – Psychopathology or PSYC 346 – Forensic Psychology
    • PSYC 360 – Advanced Statistics for Psychology
    • PSYC 362 – Research Methods for Psychology
  4. Recommended courses:
    1. PSYC 342 – Psychology of Personality
    2. PSYC 350 – Psychology of Women
    3. SOCG 352 – Criminology

Agency Contact:

Katie Shobe, Ph.D.
katharine.shobe@navy.mil
(703) 695-4230