Internships Overview

The Bill Lane Center offers three kinds of student internship: the West Internship, the Shultz Energy Fellowship, and the Environmental Journalism Internship. The West and Shultz opportunities are paid and offered summer quarter. The Environmental Journalism Internship is not paid, but can be taken for academic credit all quarters. 

Cardinal Quarter Opportunities

Every summer, the Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors, co-terminal and master's students) to work with organizations throughout the West. Through these internships, students can explore careers in natural history, conservation, ecology, land use, museum curation, resource management, water, energy, literature, policy, politics, and more.

The Bill Lane Center offers two kinds of internship that are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities, and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The opportunities are full-time (40 hours a week) for 9-10 consecutive weeks during the summer. Specific start and end dates can be coordinated directly with the internship organization's supervisor. All internships are fully funded by the Bill Lane Center with stipends ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.

The Bill Lane Center has placed over 250 interns in positions across the West since 2005. It has developed strong relationships with host organizations and works hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.

The two types of Cardinal Quarter internship offered by the Bill Lane Center are known as:

•  West Internships and 
• Shultz Energy Fellowships

Visit the West Internship page to learn more about our many work opportunities at organizations across the West, and visit the Shultz Energy Fellowships page to learn more about these energy-specific internships. 

Application information for the Shultz Energy Fellowships can be found on the Explore Energy website.

For answers to frequently asked questions about the above Cardinal Quarter internships, please visit the FAQs page and/or email the Lane Center's education manager, Corinne Thomas.

Please note: A stipend is considered a resource and it may have an impact on a student’s financial aid. To comply with U.S. Department of Education regulations, student payments, awards, prizes, and gifts that are made available to the student because they are a Stanford student, must be reported to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office is responsible for the disbursement of stipend funds to undergraduates.

• For more information, please visit the Financial Aid Office's webpage about the student stipend policy. 
• The Financial Aid Office expects students to check their own eligibility for research stipends. Students can access their Financial Aid Notification/Award Letter by following the steps below:
  • Log on to AXESS.
  • At the top of the AXESS page, hover over STUDENT.
  • Under Quick Links, select View financial aid notification.
  • If the student’s award notification shows a remaining balance under “Student Responsibility,” then the student can be awarded an academic year stipend up to that total amount.

Environmental Journalism Internship

The Bill Lane Center also offers an Environmental Journalism Internship that is not granted a stipend, but which affords students three units of credit from Tom Hayden, director of Stanford's masters program in environmental journalism. The environmental journalism intern will work with the Bill Lane Center’s writer in residence, Felicity Barringer, on an environmental journalism project. Editorial interns gain valuable journalistic experience by reporting and writing stories published to our "...and the West" blog. Check out some of the pieces written by previous interns. To indicate interest in this program, please email Felicity at febarr [at] stanford.edu (febarr[at]stanford[dot]edu).

Students interested in applying for any Bill Lane Center internship should join the email list to be the first to know when applications are available.

Interested students can apply via the SOLO portal. 

The selection process and timeline:

• Host organizations are confirmed during by early December and student applications are available on the SOLO portal by mid-December.
• The student application deadline will be Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 11:59pm for the summer 2024 program.
• First-round interviews of selected students occur in February with Bill Lane Center staff.
• Finalists will have their applications forwarded to the host organizations that make the final selection decision. 
• Students should know the selection decisions and internship placements prior to the start of spring break. 

Required Application Materials:

The Bill Lane Center application includes specific questions and will also prompt students to submit:

• A cover letter describing their interest and experience
• A resume
• Two references
• An unofficial transcript

Cover Letters:

Students should address their cover letters to both the Bill Lane Center, that is funding and administering the internship, and to the organization to which they are applying.

The following three questions must be addressed in the cover letter:

1. What are your motivations behind applying for this position?
2. How will participating in this program further your academic and professional pursuits?
3. Do you have any prior internship or relevant experience? 

For more helpful application advice and tips on writing a cover letter, please visit the Bill Lane Center's FAQs page.

Please note:

• Students may apply to *no more* than three internships. 
• Students' applications may be forwarded to additional host organizations at the discretion of the Bill Lane Center staff.
• Graduating seniors are eligible if they are graduating in spring quarter but not earlier, e.g., fall or winter quarter of that academic year. 

The summer 2024 internship application deadline is Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 11:59pm.

In partnership with the Haas Center for Public Service, students who complete any Bill Lane Center internship are eligible for a Cardinal Quarter certification.

Cardinal Quarter offerings are intensive, immersive, local, national and global public service experiences. The experiences provide students the opportunities to contribute to society, develop citizenship and professional skills, and realize Jane Stanford’s vision that with a Stanford education students “will become thereby of greater service to the public.”

Read more about the Cardinal Quarter program on the Cardinal Service website.

Students receive a notation on their transcript after completing all Cardinal Quarter requirements.