Faculty Information on Academic Internships (For-Credit)
How do I supervise an internship?:Academic Internships are supervised experiences in which students combine critical thinking and intentional reflection with their academic study. All internships done for-credit must be anchored by a Faculty Sponsor/Advisor. This faculty member supervises the student’s academic component outside of the student’s internship experience. The role of the faculty member is to challenge the students academically and facilitate their learning while in the internship. It should be as rigorous and thought-provoking as any other upper-level course.
- Faculty supervising an 89a/b Internship course will use the class syllabus as a framework for guiding the internship.
- Faculty supervising students enrolled in a 92a/b Independent Internships & Analysis or a 93a/b Indpendent Research Internship course will establish a learning contract/agreement with that student prior to the beginning of the internship.
Faculty sponsors should generally be from the student’s major department and have expertise relevant to the student’s interests and internship. Faculty sponsors assist students in developing appropriate research/academic projects and provide guidance throughout the internship semester. The sponsor should not only approve the topic, but guide the student in designing a paper/project to address their research interest. Faculty sponsors are responsible for the following:
- Approve student’s internship site relating to the academic discipline.
- Assist in creating an academic learning agreement.
- Being available to offer advice and feedback twice a month regarding the students progress toward the initial research or learning goals.
- Review all papers/projects and assign a letter grade (4-credit internships only).
Any faculty member can supervise a for-credit internship course within their department, as long as the course is in the course catalog, and the department approves the course. Otherwise, the department must ok the addition of the internship course and the Registrar must add it to the catalog. While not responsible for the student’s actual internship experience, it is advisable that the faculty guide the student’s experience so that he or she may gain the development from it.
Where are the internships that I can supervise?:
Faculty may supervise an internship that takes place either off-campus or on campus. What matters most is:
1.) The supervised work experience directly relates to the academic department in which the student is enrolled for the course, and
2.) That the academic component relates to the internship site experience.