Internship Requirements

To meet requirements of the capstone experience, internships must be taken for 3 credits. If taken to satisfy the service learning requirement, the internship requires 30 hours of work. If taken as an elective, an internship can be taken for 1 to 3 credits. A three credit internship requires a minimum of 100 hours of work with the agency or company.

Students must fill out a registration form which requires the signatures of the faculty instructor, the department chair, and the internship supervisor. This needs to be done in advance of registration. Therefore, it is necessary to make contacts with potential agencies or companies in advance so the appropriateness of the internship can be evaluated by the faculty supervisor before registration. The student must also provide the internship supervisor with an evaluation form for evaluation of the student's performance and the student must also fill out a standard student evaluation form of the internship experience, available in the Geography Office.

If the internship experience is used to meet the service learning requirement, separate forms must be filled out and there may also be additional requirements. Students should contact the service learning coordinator for the necessary materials.

Since the faculty supervisor needs to contact the internship supervisor prior to registration to clarify the responsibilities and activities to be carried out in the internship, it is necessary for the student to provide the name of the appropriate contact. The faculty supervisor will also contact the employer supervisor no later than the midpoint of the internship experience to discuss the student's progress.

The student should keep a journal of the activities, responsibilities, projects, etc., encountered during the internship. This will be used for the completion of a written report and portfolio that:

• describes the internship duties, activities, projects, etc.
• identifies existing skills that were used and new skills that were developed
• discusses the positive and negative aspects of the experience

If appropriate, the report should include examples of specific projects or activities completed by the student and forms and documents used. The report should be sufficiently detailed and of sufficient length to give the faculty supervisor an in-depth view of the internship experience.

The grade for the internship will be based on this report/portfolio, the internship evaluation by the internship supervisor, and discussions between the faculty supervisor and internship supervisor.