With competitive compensation, Cato provides its interns with a rich education in the fundamentals of libertarianism through professional development, research opportunities, and the chance to work with leading scholars in different policy fields. Cato interns gain valuable experience that leaves a lasting impression on their professional future.
To learn more about where you might fit in, visit Placement.
Cato interns work in a variety of departments. Policy areas include such subjects as health care, defense and foreign policy, constitutional law, tax and budget policy, and numerous others. Interns assist scholars and research assistants with research, data collection, editing, and numerous other tasks. In addition to the interns who work with our policy staff, Cato hosts other interns who work with our communications teams. These interns get hands‐on experience working with the media and outside organizations. We place interns based on the preferences that they select in their applications.
All interns occasionally fulfill such responsibilities as clerical work, deliveries, and helping to operate Cato events, including registering guests and carrying handheld microphones at public forums and debates.
In addition, all interns take part in an intensive seminar series. These seminars introduce the interns to a wide range of philosophy, history, economics, and policy topics. Several seminars also help interns develop useful professional skills, such as public speaking and op‐ed writing.
The John Russell Paslaqua Intern Seminar Series is an unrivaled component of the Cato internship program. This intensive seminar curriculum encompasses public policy, economics, history, and political philosophy and is presented by Cato’s senior policy researchers over the course of more than 40 readings‐based seminar sessions per internship term. The program includes writing, public speaking, and networking workshops to help interns hone their communication skills, learn about career paths in public policy, and develop early professional relationships that will help them advance beyond their time at Cato.
In honor of John’s legacy, the Paslaqua family established the series as a reflection of John’s passion for big ideas and individual liberty. John, a 2014 graduate of Colgate University, produced exceptional work for Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies as a member of the spring 2015 intern class.
Tragically, John died suddenly in 2017. Kenneth Paslaqua, John’s father, said proudly, “John had a clear libertarian legal mindset and supported less government intervention into people’s lives.”
Thanks to this generous contribution by the Paslaqua Charitable Foundation in John’s memory, Cato will continue to educate the next generation of leaders for a free, open, and civil society. The John Russell Paslaqua seminar series enhances the Cato internship experience that John enjoyed so much and through which he is fondly remembered.