Students benefit in the Internship Program through exposure to real world business environments in the Communication field. To accomplish this, each intern works very closely with the organization’s Internship Supervisor.

Student resumes, chosen carefully to fill the organization’s needs and meet the student’s area of study and interests, are provided to the supervisor. The supervisor then selects those student applicants that they believe are a good fit for their organization, and these students are notified by the Internship Coordinator. The student then contacts the organization and sets up an interview.

Once the organization’s Internship Supervisor selects a student intern candidate, the supervisor completes an Internship Organization & Intern Agreement Form with the student and returns the form to the School of Communication. The Internship Supervisor is responsible for interviewing and selecting the intern candidate, assigning the intern’s responsibilities and projects, supervising the intern’s weekly activities, and evaluating the overall performance and efforts of the intern.

The Internship Supervisor is also the contact person for the School of Communication’s Internship Coordinator throughout the student’s internship.

In addition to the Internship Organization & Intern Agreement Form that the organization Internship Supervisor completes with the student intern, the supervisor will be required to sign the intern’s Weekly Internship Report. This report, prepared weekly by the intern, documents the daily duties and tasks that the intern has completed, as well as the internship weekly hours completed. It is important that the supervisor reviews this information to ensure that is accurate before signing and dating the report.

The organization’s Internship Supervisor will also be responsible for evaluating the intern’s performance and efforts. During the fall and spring semesters, supervisors will meet with the intern at mid-term and evaluate the student’s progress using the Internship Supervisor Evaluation Form, which will be emailed to the supervisor by the Internship Coordinator. Essentially, the form contains the criteria of attendance, attitude, comprehension, communication, work habits, and overall performance. The mid-term evaluation does not have to be returned to the School of Communication. Near the completion of the semester, the Internship Coordinator will once again email the supervisor the evaluation form, and this time, the supervisor will complete the form and return it to the School of Communication. This form helps the Internship Coordinator determine the student intern’s fulfillment of his or her internship program. Since the summer internship programs are relatively short, no mid-term evaluation is required, but the supervisor will still complete a final evaluation for the intern.

This is the decision of the organization. While many students seek paid internships, many internship organizations are unable to financially reimburse student interns. However, all students earn credit hours for their internship programs. If an organization does offer financial compensation, the arrangement is made strictly between the organization and the student intern. The School of Communication does not get involved in or represent any financial arrangements or obligations between interns and their internship organizations.

The Internship Organization & Intern Agreement Form contains a specific liability release section that the student intern must sign. This liability release states that the intern voluntarily assumes all risks of accident or personal damage to his/her person or property and releases the internship organization from any claim, liability, or demand of any kind sustained, whether caused by negligence or otherwise.

Organizations can request interns at any time, but placement can only occur during the 15-week fall and spring semesters and in the summer for a 5-week or 10-week program. The intern applicant interviewing and selection process at the organizations, however, occurs at the following times:

• Fall Semester Internship Placement: Organizations will be notified of student intern applicants in mid- April of the same year (typically, the fall school semester starts near the end of August and runs through the first week of December)
• Spring Semester Internship Placement: Organizations will be notified of student intern applicants by the end of October of the preceding year (typically, the spring school semester starts in mid-January and runs through the first week of May)
• Summer Internship Placement: Organizations will be notified of student intern applicants by the end of February of the same year (typically, the summer school programs start in May, June, or July depending upon the number of weeks of the program )

This will depend on the number of credit hours a student intern registers for. During the fall and spring semesters, each academic internship credit taken by the student requires 3.5 internship clock hours per week at the internship organization. During the 5-week summer period, each academic internship credit taken by the student requires 10.5 internship clock hours per week (available credit hours cannot exceed 4). During the 10-week summer period, each academic internship credit taken by the student requires 5.25 internship clock hours per week.

Please refer to the table below for specific weekly internship hours based on credit hours.