"There are an enormous number of things you can do on the Ithaca campus, but some things you can't. One is have to a close-up, in-depth experience with the government and ruling culture of the United States," said David Silbey '90, Cornell in Washington's (CIW) new associate director and adjunct associate professor in the history department.

The program celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. In addition to government and history majors, CIW attracts students in such disciplines as biology and society; industrial and labor relations; economics; communication; sociology; and science and technology studies. Since 1983, 2,653 students have spent a semester or a summer at Cornell's four-story Wolpe Center near Dupont Circle.

Silbey teaches the program's two required core courses on public policy and the American experience, offers informal advising and is onsite year-round. Silbey and CIW tutors, who also serve as resident advisers, "make sure that we're offering a full Cornell academic experience for the students."

A military historian who holds history degrees from Cornell and a master's and doctorate from Duke University, Silbey is the author of several books, including "A War of Empire and Frontier: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902." He said he gets to know students well and has written recommendation letters to places as varied as the White House and the Urban Institute, and many relationships continue after students graduate.

"The level of teaching and the intensity of the students is higher now than when I was an undergraduate," Silbey said. "Our students are really quite remarkable. What we try to do in the core courses is challenge them in a way they haven't been challenged in their college career before. They do a major research project on a topic of their choosing that aims for the quality of an academic journal."

Of 57 beds at the Wolpe Center, 53 are full this semester. Students work three days a week at internships and take classes on Thursdays. As the 50- to 70-page research paper deadline approaches after the middle of the semester, Silbey said, CIW "becomes the kind of scholarly community that you see at think tanks. Everybody's living in the building; everybody's working together."

For CIW student Joyce Wu '13, "My internship is with 'ABC World News With Diane Sawyer,' and it's an absolute dream come true because I've always wanted to work at ABC. In Washington, there are so many opportunities to network with people in the industries you hope to break into one day, and it's amazing to be right in the middle of all dramatic headline-making political stories," Wu said.

"When our students work at an internship with a senator, the Supreme Court or a lobbying firm, they take classes focused on public policy that draw on the expert community in D.C.," Silbey said. "They are here not just to have the internship experience, but also to have the kind of intensive academic experience like nothing they've had before. It prepares them for graduate school, for the work place or anywhere that there's a substantial intellectual challenge."

CIW students work with a tutor to design, research and analyze data for their research paper. "The tutors are like teaching assistants on steroids, working very closely with the student throughout the semester to push the research project as far as the student can manage," Silbey said. "It's very intense."

The son of historian Joel Silbey, Cornell professor of history emeritus, David Silbey grew up watching his father "enjoy his career immensely. He was a spectacular role model, and I found myself fascinated by history and the ability to try to explain human society."

The CIW program, Silbey said, offers "a chance to experience Cornell and D.C. in a way that you're not going to get anywhere else." He will return to campus Oct. 1-4 to participate in information sessions about the program.