What is the Role of the Internship Faculty Supervisor?

What is the "Role of the Internship Faculty Supervisor" and what is the "Internship Academic Component"?

When the Internship Faculty Supervisor approves a student for an internship they will:

• Review courses taken-to-date by the student.  Academic credit for internships can only be awarded to juniors or seniors by faculty.

• Review the position description provided by the student, from the organization on company letterhead, detailing the student's duties and/or special projects.

  • If the position duties/responsibilities as presented do not provide sufficient information to warrant the awarding of academic credit for the internship the faculty supervisor should request that a revised position description be submitted prior to signing the student's Application for Internship form.

• Check/confirm that the student has the required GPA, (2.5 minimum, some departments may have a higher standard)

• Confirm that the number of hours the student will be interning equals the number of credit to be awarded (45 hours per credit earned - i.e. 3 credits =135 hours).

• Faculty must assign an academic component to the student's internship.  An example might be the student maintaining a weekly log or journal of their internship experience and/or writing an 8-10 page paper on a selected topic.

• Schedule weekly/monthly follow-up meetings to monitor the student's internship.  Faculty may also choose to coordinate group meetings with all of their interns.  Faculty and students will agree to meet throughout the semester.

• Provide each student's internship site supervisor with a copy of the department's internship performance evaluation form.  The standard timeframe for sending the evaluation form to the employer is mid-semester and two weeks prior to the end of the internship.

Last Modified: March 24, 2011