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As you know, the faculty and staff are the voice of the university with the ability to change policy and procedures or strengthen established programs. Academic internship programs vary in strength and activity throughout campus. As a member of the university community, you can facilitate the addition of a program or the strengthening thereof by encouraging students to participate in internships, keeping solid ties with your alumni, petitioning your department's chair, and volunteering to help your department's academic internship coordinator. As members of the university committee, you may also be interested in hiring an intern for a semester to help with marketing, research, organizing, event planning, writing, etc. Internships truly benefit all parties involved by linking learning and life. For more specific details regarding how you can help, contact your department internship coordinator or the Internship Office.
Stages of Program Development
The level of development of different campus internship programs varies from department to
department. Some departments only do internships on occasion when, for some reason or another,
a student has to be enrolled for the duration of his or her internship experience, while others
have every student enroll as a requirement for graduation. Programs across campus may fall
on either end of the field or anywhere in between. No matter what stage of development your
department is in, there may be a desire for increasing participation.
What's Right for Your Department?
The Internship Office has compiled some suggestions for your consideration. The section is divided into groups of individuals with whom strengthening relations may enhance
your department internship program: students, faculty and staff, administration, and experience providers. Suggestions are listed according to what you would like to have the group of individuals know or do. Elements from each section may be combined to match your department's stage of development, needs, resources, and goals.
Increasing Student Participation
The ideal method for motivating student involvment in internships is to integrate the internship experience into the department's existing curriculum. This ensures the particiation of the student
and creates the ideal learning environment as the student is able to more fully link academic
learning with real-life situations and experiences in a structured manner. Departments that
cannot commit enough credits in the curriculum to require an internship may elect for an internship
program that is optional, but highly encouraged. These departments can encourage student
participation through an ongoing campaign that educates students on the value and timing of an
internship. Some tactics follow, though this is in no way a complete list of options.
Informational
- Class presentations. The Internship Office has ready-made presentations in increments of
5 to 45 minutes that a representative of the Internship Office or your office may present in
your major and pre-major classes or new student orientations.
- Posters in building hallways, info boards, offices, common areas, classrooms, etc.
- Internship Booklets may be distributed in department hotspots like offices, hallways,
advisement centers, professors' offices, classes, class presentations, etc.
- Tailored phone messages that encourage involvement and disseminate information.
- Add department internship information into the student orientation packets and other
materials or presentations.
- Develop a department internship Web site with information and post department-specific
internship opportunities.
- Link your department internship Web site with the University Internship Office Web site.
- Advertise Semester Away as a draw for students.
- Modify your department's information in the University Catalog to include internships as
a viable curricular option.
- Issue department e-mails each semester (or as often as deamed appropriate) encouraging
internship involvement.
- Develop T-shirts with your department's internship slogan or tagline and give to all
students who participate in an internship.
- Stuff textbooks of targeted classes at the beginning of each semester.
Motivational
- Add the department's internship information/philosophy into the Major Academic Plans.
- Use your college advisement centers to encourage students to do an internship or plan on
one when they map out their graduation plan.
- Use your department academic advisors to help encourage student participation.
- Work internships into the overall curriculum as a required course for graduation.
- Issue an "internship of the week" e-mail with an internship opportunity that would be
applicable to many students.
- Maintain a list of department-specific internship opportunities.
- Host a yearly internship fair or join in with the university's Career and Internship Fair.
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Garnering Faculty Involvement
Garnering faculty support varies on the general consensus about internships within your department. Use caution if you have vehemenently opposed faculty or if internships seem to be a hotspot in your department.
Informational
- Post internship success stories on a faculty information board or through well-placed and
timed e-mails.
- Offer an internship presentation at faculty meetings that includes success stories and
well-researched statistics about the benefits of internships.
- Locate studies that have been conducted on internship involvement in other universities
that offer programs similar to yours.
- Find the stance of professional organizations within your department's discipline(s) on
internships and inform faculty thereof.
- Develop a department internship Web site with specific information on how internships
benefit faculty members and how your office is encouraging participation among
students.
- Link your department internship Web site with the University Internship Office Web site.
- Modify your department's information in the University Catalog to include internships as
a viable curricular option.
- Issue department e-mails each semester (or as often as deamed appropriate) encouraging
internship involvement.
- Offer class presentations on internships as a service to them.
Motivational
- Act as an ambassador for internships within your department.
- Recruit faculty as academic or internship advisors.
- Devleop a top-down strategy with your chair and faculty group leaders then work with
faculty to implement the chair's and group leaders' decisions.
- Work internships into the overall curriculum as a required course for graduation.
- Maintain a list of department-specific internship opportunities.
- Position yourself as a resource to your faculty.
- Host a yearly internship fair or join in with the university's Career and Internship Fair.
- Use Semester Away as an avenue to increase professor involvement as professors may
be able to receive more release time or hire research assistants if they are involved in
internships.
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Obtaining Administration Support
Obtaining administrative support varies on the general consensus about internships within your department. Use caution if you have vehemenently opposed faculty or leaders or if internships
seem to be a hotspot in your department.
Informational
- Compile semester number reports to show the university growth of internship
participation and your department's part in that growth (easily supplied by Adhoc or the
university Internship Office).
- Play with numbers to create an enrollment graph: percent of students vs. enrollment, etc.
- Locate studies that have been conducted on internship involvement in other universities
that offer similar programs as yours.
- Find the stance of professional organizations within your department's discipline(s) on
internships and use as reason while encouraging internships.
- Develop a department internship Web site with specific information on how internships
benefit faculty members and how your office is encouraging participation among
students.
- Link your department internship Web site with the University Internship Web site.
- Flash stats of internship participation that you locate in credible studies and reports or
from the university Internship Office.
- Find internship quotes from General Authorities or professionals/industry experts.
- Compile a list of potential local and national internship opportunities available to your
students.
Motivational
- Obtain student testimonials with specifics about how the internship and classes worked
together to enhance learning.
- Introduce Semester Away statistics and a plan with a budget on how the program can
benefit the department.
- Issue pre- and post-tests gauging how prepared a student feels about transistioning into
the professional field, how applicable he or she feels the internship was to his or her
academic study, or whether or not the internship helped him or her to see the connection
between learning and life.
- Consider issuing the same test to students who haven't interned and compare the results
to those that have (make sure both groups are at the same level of study, i.e. seniors about
to complete the program).
- Arrange a meeting between the university internship director, yourself, and your chair to
discuss the university's position on internships and efforts surrounding them.
- Position yourself as a potential resource and be willing to head up the efforts.
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Recruiting and Maintaining Experience Providers
Developing and maintaining solid relationships with current experience providers is a key
component to a successful internship program. Many of the ideas listed here are general,
blanket concepts. If you would like help brainstorming industry-specific tactics, please contact
the Internship Office.
Recruiting Providers. Most experience providers want high-quality, hard-working interns at low-cost. They usually want the best of the group to help their company succeed. Our goal is to keep them happy through quality students and solid communications.
- Host a major-specific or department specific internship fair and invite current, past, and
potential experience providers to attend as well as all the students in the department.
- Target potential providers you'd like to work with and distribute a "Potential Experience
Provider" packet tailored to demonstrate your department's individual strengths and
uniqueness. See a sample packet.
- Carry "Potential Experience Provider" packets with you on business trips, professional
meetings, and other networking functions, which you may distribute with your card.
- Encourage students to seek out providers that may not have previously worked with
BYU or considered an internship program.
Maintaining Providers. Once a new provider is recruited, asking them to sign a Master Agreement can be a tricky process. Some departments issue a cover letter explaining the agreement, what it entails, and
other specific information. See a sample cover letter. Modifications
may be made to suit your department's needs.
- Prepare students by addressing their role as a university representative. Stress the
importance of performing well as their actions can encourage or deter an experience
provider's future participation in BYU's internship program. The student could
eliminate the possibility of future student opportunities with the employer.
- Establish a good rapport with the provider by meeting him or her in person or, at the very
least, on the phone. Contact the employer on occasion during the semester to see how
the intern is fairing and see if there is anything you can personally do.
- Do everything possible to help the employer find a suitable intern for his or her
organization.
- Add a question to the end of the evaluation sheet asking when the provider would like
another BYU intern at the organization.
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