The Communication Internship (COMM 410) provides students with an opportunity to earn academic credits via a meaningful work experience. Through an internship students can experience possible career situations and work in organizations commensurate with their interests. More importantly, internships allow students the chance to draw upon what they have learned about communication in classroom settings.
An intern is like a ethnographic or naturalistic researcher. He or she participates in a work experience or organization as he or she observes it. Interns study the organization through their experience and interaction with others and via performing their internship tasks.
Note: A student can choose any faculty in Speech Communication to work with for an internship. All you need to do is contact a faculty member before a term begins, ask if the faculty member would be willing to facilitate an internship with them, and then the two of you (the faculty member and student) work together during the term. It is like an independent study - any student can work with any professor who agrees to work with them. We provide a paper packet available from the Shepard Office, this is only an example of what a professor might require for an internship.
Qualifications:
To be eligible for the COMM 410 Internship program, students must:
Determining Credit Hours:
12 hours of credit: 40 hours per week
9 hours of credit: 30 hours per week
6 hours of credit: 20 hours per week
3 hours of credit: 10 hours per week
Application Procedure:
2. Internship proposals should be submitted to potential faculty sponsors at least three weeks before preregistration for the term in which the internship will take place.
Gaining Approval:
The faculty member to whom the student has submitted the internship proposal will review that proposal to determine approval status. If the internship is not approved, the student may revise and resubmit the proposal or seek an internship that is appropriate for academic communication (COMM) credit. Upon approval, the student must:
Completing the Internship:
In order to earn academic credit for the internship, students must submit the following materials for evaluation:
1. Periodic written work, such as:
a. Daily logs, or
b. Weekly (per forty hours of internship) communication activity reports (Dr. Walker requires these)
c. Journal entries (Dr. Goodnow requires these)
2. A final analytical paper, term length.
3. A letter of evaluation from the student's on-site supervisor, sent directly to the faculty sponsor.
4. All internship materials should be turned in no later than the second day of finals week, unless another due date has been arranged with the faculty sponsor.
Internship Deadlines and Incomplete Policy:
Internships should be completed within the academic term. Incompletes will not be assigned without prior approval.