Internships

In today's competitive job market, employers look for previous experience. The internship is the best place for you to gain this experience. Begin looking for opportunities at the Career Center.

Internships may be completed simply for the experience, or for course credit. Any student in good academic standing with at least 12 academic credits in the Communication Studies department may earn internship credit within the department. One credit hour of COMS 380--Internship may be earned per 36 hours of supervised, paid or unpaid work in an internship setting. Internships are graded as Credit/NoCredit, without exception. No more than a total of four hours of internship may be applied toward the major or minor, but several internships may be combined toward the four hour total. Conversely, no fewer than four hours are necessary to comprise one full course toward the major/minor requirements.

To complete an internship effectively, students are urged to use the materials provided by the Career Center even if the experience will not be done for credit:

1. Create a learning plan with clear objectives for the experience, and have it agreed to by the internship employer and your faculty adviser (if earning course credit).
2. Keep a journal that contains regular entries reflecting on duties of the internship and what is being learned. The journal should have a portfolio dimension that includes examples of work completed during the internship.
3. Get a letter of review and a performance evaluation from the internship supervisor on forms provided by the Career Center.
4. Meet with the faculty adviser before and after the experience for discussion and reflection.