MTSU‘s legislative internship program with the Tennessee General Assembly and the annual “Day on the Hill” for students with an eye on public service are in the spotlight in this month’s edition of “Out of the Blue,” the university’s monthly TV magazine.

The six-minute segment of the March 2023 program, available below, features a visit with Dr. Amy Atchison, chair of MTSU’s Department of Political Science and International Relations in the College of Liberal Arts.

In it, Atchison discusses MTSU’s participation in the Tennessee Legislative Internship Program, a statewide project established in 1972 to give college juniors, seniors and graduate students a chance to work with and observe elected leaders during the state Legislature’s four- to five-month session every spring.

Students majoring in law, political science, history, administration, social work, economics, sociology, journalism and related fields are eligible to participate, and 10 applicants are chosen each year.

They can earn up to 12 credit hours for their legislative internship, which is headquartered on Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville, and a full-time weekly salary of $400.

The “Day on the Hill” event, which MTSU conducts each February, includes a luncheon honoring the participating students, legislators, and university staff and faculty organizers.

“One of the things I love about the lunch is that not only do we recognize the interns but we also recognize their bosses, the representatives, the senators that they work for, and they really reinforce that this is a practical, real-life experience for them,” Atchison says. “They’re not just making copies; they’re not just fetching coffee. They’re doing the work of a staff member.

“I love to see them up there doing what they’re interested in doing. They work for a variety of legislators, and then they’re going to committee meetings, they’re taking those notes, they’re doing entry-level analysis for legislative issues, and they’re getting such good experiential learning. Everything that they’ve learned in the classroom can be applied to their internships. … I really love … seeing the legislators come, because what that tells me is that they value this program and that they see the benefit of their MTSU student interns and what those interns bring to the table.”

MTSU’s “Out of the Blue,” with host Andrew Oppmann, is a 30-minute monthly program that features interviews and stories on important university developments and people. It’s available to watch anytime online on MTSU’s YouTube channel and on MTSU’s True Blue TV channel.

The show also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Central and on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, as well as on NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays.

“Out of the Blue” also is available as iTunes and Google Play podcasts and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, and shows are archived on this website, too.

More information about the Tennessee Legislative Internship Program at MTSU is available at https://bit.ly/MTLegislativeInternships.

For more information about MTSU’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, visit www.mtsu.edu/politicalscience.

The College of Liberal Arts incorporates 11 departments with more than 20 academic majors and course offerings from the fine and performing arts, the humanities and the social sciences; its website is www.mtsu.edu/liberalarts.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)