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Why Have Your Students Involved in Internships?

The Process of Granting Credit

What Our Office Can Do For You

Resources To Share with Students

 

Why Have Your Students Involved in Internships?

Student participation in structured experiential education experiences yield tremendous dividends. Some of these include:

  • A proven method to help students apply and deepen classroom learning (contact our office for supporting documentation).
  • Paid positions that provide students with an income source to help finance their education.
  • Student connection with the Career and Professional Development Office. Here they can access career guidance resources, resume and interviewing assistance, and full-time placement services as they near graduation.
  • Increasing the employability of graduates from your department.
  • More success in recruiting students to the university and your department because of increased marketability at graduation
  • Stronger ties with the local business community. The potential for scholarships and other beneficial arrangements increase through strengthening these relationships.
 

The Process of Granting Credit

By working with our office, the time and effort required to monitor placements can be reduced while maintaining a high quality structure. We assist with establishing learning objectives, coordinating on-site visits and collecting end-of-semester evaluations. By partnering with us, your department can effectively manage a greater number of placements.

Departments manage internships differently; however, most have basic assumptions. These include:

* Academic credit will not be given retroactively.
* For individuals currently working within an organization, no academic credit will be given for an existing functional area experience.
* Semesters are defined as Fall, Spring, and Summer (consisting of Summer I and Summer II)

Why Partner With Us in Monitoring Internships?

  • We help students complete a Credit Proposal Form which includes internship details and preliminary learning goals. This form is a more efficient and standard way to evaluate internship proposals. The form is pre-screened and then forwarded to the appropriate faculty if it meets your department internship criteria. 

    Faculty may decline to give credit if in their judgment the formalized goals and objectives are not consistent with the traditional granting of academic credit. However, if everything looks OK, faculty will enroll the student in the appropriate course.
  • We set up the internship class in WTClass if needed . We have ideas on discussion boards, end-of-semester papers and other academic assignments you can incorporate.
  • Midway through the semester, we coordinate an on-site visit if needed .
  • At the end of the semester, we send out and collect internships evaluations for both the student and the supervisor. Copies are forwarded to the appropriate faculty member.
  • Our Office documents internships for your department in our database . We serve as central hub for internship statistics for your department.
 

What Our Office Can Do For You

In keeping with the mission of our university, we are committed to helping your students develop strong critical thinking and problem solving skills and making them professionally competitive. We believe internship positions help students achieve these goals. Our office can help you make quality internship experiences happen in your department by:

  • Contact employers and developing opportunities for students
  • Follow-up on employer leads you provide our office
  • Publicize internship opportunities across campus
  • Make career or experiential education presentations to your class
  • Help students prepare resumes and develop interviewing skills
  • Assist students complete credit proposals and develop learning objectives
  • Sending out and collecting end of semester evaluations
  • Coordinate on-site visits

We are available to help any of your students with career coaching issues. Our trained coaches are excellent at assisting students conduct career exploration and define their career goals. Refer students to our office, CC 113 in the Student Success Center, or have them call us @ 651-2345 to schedule an appointment with a coach.

 

Resources To Share With Students

Whether or not you use our office to help coordinate internship placements, we have some outstanding resources you can share with your students. These include:

Don't hesitate to contact us if we can assist you or your students in any way.