It’s simple to shape an internship into something worthwhile. First, take a look at the position description. Where does the job description need improvement? Is it more than 15% clerical or administrative? Are the student’s duties listed generically, with no specifics?
(Click the file here to see our sample job description form.)

You can encourage the student to talk with the potential internship supervisor to explain the need for more project work, you can call the employer yourself, or an Internship Advisor in the Career Center can advocate for the student. The Internship Advisors are:

· John Charles for Graduate SIS, 885-1810, charles@american.edu
· Chris Hughes for SPA, 885-1805, hughes@american.edu
· Heather Fox for SIS Undergraduates, 885-1807, hfox@american.edu
· David Fletcher for Kogod Undergraduates, 885-1811, fletcher@american.edu
· Marie Spaulding for CAS and SOC, 885-1799, mspauld@american.edu

And remember, a student can be paid AND earn academic credit. These terms are not mutually exclusive!

But it's still essential to keep in mind the where's and how's of their internships.
It's essential to be able to monitor academic progress.
It's important to be aware of potential problems at the sites before they become serious.
If your students are having particularly successful experiences, Admissions and Internship Programs would love to be able to identify these students for publicity materials.
The students may need to be contacted quickly in the event of a emergency, local, national, or personal.

Introducing yourself and American University to the internship employer can improve town and gown relations. You may be the first faculty member the employer has ever met! And your efforts to reach out to the employer will make it more likely that other AU students will be welcomed as interns in the future.

How else will you meet the internship supervisor and learn first-hand what the student is doing and why his or her projects matter to the employer?

Only through first-hand visits can we tell the pearls from the swine. A visit can let us know about a diamond in the rough, or a site that is not appropriate.

Internships are like any other university courses: the student needs to complete the academic assignments and turn them in on time. In addition, you will send the internship supervisor an evaluation to complete assessing the student's workplace performance. This evaluation will count as a portion of the grade, no more than 40%.

When you developed the internship syllabus, you outlined how you would determine the grade (e.g., 20% based on research paper, 20% based on organizational analysis, 20% based on the weekly journal, 30% based on the internship supervisor's student evaluation, and 10% based on the student's oral presentation of what he learned in the internship). Obviously you don't want is to contribute to grade inflation! As with any course, evaluate the student's learning and assign the grade you deem to be fair.

Students have been coming in to see you and they have until February 3rd to register for internships. Aside from the very real possibility of miscommunication between a student and a potential internship employer, there are descriptions that sound great at first, but on deeper examination, become almost completely clerical. Then there are the students who are convinced that putting up posters and counting inventory at a music store is a credit-worthy internship. But the following pointers can help you separate the academic wheat from the chaff.

· Do you have a detailed position description, in writing, completed by the potential internship supervisor?

· Does this description outline the student's duties? Does it say that he ‘will assist on various projects" or does it indicate more specifics such as that he "will research domestic violence using the internet and interview subjects in person in order to write a report and make an oral presentation of his findings to the board of directors. His name will appear on the report that the organization plans to publish."

· Is it clear how many hours/week the student will intern (8-10 hours/week for 1-2 credits, 15-16 hours/week for 3 credits and 20-24 hours/week for 6 credits) and for how many weeks (minimum of 12)? Does the description give the name and title of the supervisor with phone, fax, e-mail and Web site information?

· If the student will be paid, does it state the salary, amount of stipend, and/or other forms of reimbursement (e.g., Metro, parking and/or lunch)?

· Is there a description of the business/purpose of the organization?

· Does it explain the qualifications the employer looks for in students who apply?

· Does the description begin with "will handle administrative tasks including faxing, copying, answering the phones?"

· Internships are meant to offer students a chance to participate in new learning. The intern's duties should be 85% substantive. You may want to contact the employer to ask if the intern can take on other, more project-oriented work.

Whether you approached the student or the student has approached you, it is essential that the student first take the initiative to improve the substance of the internship.

Not substantive enough? Compare the job description to what the student is actually doing. This is a very useful reference when talking with the employer. Remind the employer that the position needs to be at least 85% substantive to be credit-worthy.

Conflict at the work site with a co-worker or supervisor? The student needs to make an effort to try to identify and resolve the issues. If this does not work, you may want to call the supervisor to talk about solutions.
Overwhelmed with work? Talk with the student to see if better time management is needed or if the internship site may be expecting too much.

Should the student not feel comfortable talking to his or her supervisor, we encourage them to speak with us so we can suggest ideas on how to proceed. We can even role play with them. If the situation requires intervention, feel free to have us intercede, or to ask us to role play with you on ways to approach an unfamiliar employer. No matter what the situation may be, feel free to contact the Career Center for support. The staff is experienced in workplace problem-solving and conflict resolution, and can help resolve the situation. Your contacts are:

The bottom-line is to make the internship substantive enough for the student to be learning at the internship site and integrating this learning with your academic assignments.

Summer is the busiest time for students doing internships, yet we have the fewest number register. Why? Some internships are too short, aren't substantive, and undergraduates have to pay per credit hour. So why not register them in the fall for an internship they do this summer? Lot's of reasons not to, but *here are some tips for making your students' lives less complicated.

If your student has an internship that falls short of the required 12 weeks, see if the student can first negotiate with the employer to lengthen the internship to 12 weeks. If that doesn't work, see if the employer would be willing to let the student do either preliminary research and/or a follow-up project to lengthen the time to 12 weeks. Remember, just because a student may be working more hours per week, the internship STILL needs to be 12 weeks long to be credit-worthy.

If your student MUST do the internship for credit because it's the policy of the internship site, and it is either too short or not substantive, have the student consider doing it an independent study where the research is being done in the summer and the academic work to earn credit is done during the fall semester.

Even if your students aren't doing internships for credit, if you'd like to help, you could send an e-mail a couple of times over the summer just asking them how it's going and what specifically they're learning from it. Simply by asking, you're facilitating a learning process through reflection in which the students probably wouldn't otherwise engage.

Academic internships, whether for one student or twenty, require the same individual attention as a regular university class. Students are paying the same tuition and the learning expectations should be consistent with other courses. The days of simply assigning a paper and not hearing from the student until the end of the semester are gone. While no syllabus can be a one-size-fits-all for everything from performing arts management to environmental laboratory work, there are some key elements which, with a little customization, can work for almost any situation.

Provide all the usual information that is on your other syllabi: contact information, office hours, philosophy, course goals, assignments, deadlines, etc.

Create assignments that facilitate contact with your students at least three times a semester

Have assignments balanced so that they facilitate reflection, critical thinking, and analysis while having them directly relate to the internship site.

International Internships
Do you have students interested in interning abroad?

An international internship can be a truly important part of a student’s educational experience. However, these internships can often be difficult to locate and frustrating or even dangerous for inexperienced participants. AU Abroad offers wonderful structured programs, but what about the independent senior or graduate student? The Career Center can help! We have assisted students with international internships for 20 years!

Here are three important things you probably didn’t know about international internships:

1) All students interning overseas must meet with our international internship advisor. Students who register for credit for international overseas who are not participants in an AU Abroad program must meet with the international internship advisor pre-departure. This has been in the academic regulations for years, but is even more crucial today. At this meeting our advisor provides a comprehensive health and safety orientation tailored to the specific country the student is visiting, and provides information on FREE HEALTH COVERAGE provided by American University. Students can set up an appointment by calling (202) 885-1804.

2) For students interested in locating an independent overseas internship, the Career Center provides country specific internship information during one on one advising sessions. Whether your student wants to work in Argentina, Zimbabwe or anywhere in between, the Career Center can assist in creating an effective strategy tailored to that country. We remind students of some basic points: the importance of cultural appropriateness of applications, the need for near-fluency, and the reality that most overseas internships are unpaid.

3) There may be a connection for some students between international internships and Merit Awards. The international internship advisor works closely with our Office of Merit Awards to help support study abroad. Scholarships and fellowships like the David L. Boren are available for high performing students. Check out the "Merit Awards Listing" at http://www.american.edu/careercenter/merit/awardListing.html for details.

When should students do internships? Many students come to AU for the internship opportunities. What do you tell them when they ask about the best time to do internships?

New students need to take a close look at course load, classroom preparation time, and extracurricular activities to decide if there are enough hours in the day to take on another commitment. Sometimes students decide they can spend one day a week, or 8 hours, volunteering at an organization in DC to "get their feet wet," and that can be a great way to learn about office culture and professional expectations.
Many students do internships for credit during their junior year, or as graduate students after their first semester. In both cases, students generally do non-credit, less substantive internships as a foundation for later substantive, credit-worthy internships. Waiting until the last year, though not always too late, is NOT encouraged because seniors without experience are competing with younger, more experienced students for the same plumb internships.

Timing and fine print are key. Be aware that each school or college at AU has its own set of prerequisites that a student needs to meet before he does an internship for credit. Some only limit the number of credit bearing internships their students may do. For example, the School of Communication (SOC) requires that its majors be at least juniors before they do an internship for credit. And, a student with a major in SOC can do only one internship for 3 credits. The University’s Academic Regulations state that a undergraduate student needs to have completed at least 30 credit hours at AU before he can do an internship for academic credit. If the student is a new transfer student, he needs to complete one semester, or 15 credit hours, at AU before he ventures off campus in a for-credit internship. Graduate students need to complete 9 credit hours at AU before doing an internship for credit. Students need to have at least a 2.0 GPA, if undergraduate, and a 3.0 GPA, if graduate, students.

Getting credit for the second semester of an internship.
My student wants to continue her internship next semester. Can she get credit for it?

Students learn many important lessons from internships. About 50% learn that the field in which they are interning is NOT what they want to do! But of the other 50%, many have had such a positive experience that they wish to continue their experience with the same organization.

The key element in determining whether or not a continuing internship is eligible for credit is the difference in job responsibility. The second semester should be significantly different, with significantly new learning taking place. Of course, it should still be 12 weeks in duration, no more than 15% clerical, and be at least 15 hours a week to qualify for 3 credits. And there should be an appropriate syllabus developed before the semester begins for the student. But if the student is continuing in the same position with the same responsibilities, even if the student did NOT previously receive academic credit, the position would not qualify.

A phone call to the employer, either by a Career Center advisor or faculty member, explaining this policy, often can open the door to developing the appropriate new challenges and thus make the position credit-bearing.

Since most internship are 15 hours a week for 12 weeks, why can't my student do an internship for 30 hours a week over 6 weeks?

The longer answer, the rationale behind the regulation, is that to optimize learning in an internship, there must be time for a developmental process. An intern has a chance to learn much more about content, context and functions over time, as well as why so many "action" items are rarely instantaneous. In the course of 12 weeks there is time to develop mentoring relationships, time to network, time to create solid and substantive work products, and time to integrate the learning of the real world with that of the classroom.

However, there are options for students that bring you internships, lasting less than 12 weeks, for your approval:

	Contact the employer directly (or ask the Career Center advisor for help) to ask if the internship can be extended to 12 weeks.
	If the internship starts late and would need to extend into the next semester in order to be 12 weeks, you could give your student an incomplete for the first semester and then assign a grade upon completion of the internship and syllabus assignments.
	The student could pursue independent study credit for the experience.
	The student could pursue the internship for experience and not for credit.

My student just got an internship with an organization and they are asking me to sign an agreement. Shouldn't be a problem, right?

WRONG!

It looks like a great internship, but there's either a "hold harmless" agreement, a Volunteer or Student Career Experience Program Agreement from a federal agency, or some other paperwork requiring an official university signature.

If a student presents something that looks like a contract between the University and the employer which needs a signature, American University has a designated representative to sign these contracts. Our preference is for you to send the student to the Career Center first, we can review the document, and if it is a contract, we can facilitate the completion with Brian Blair, the Director of Procurement & Contracts, Office of the Comptroller's Office. This process has a relatively quick turn-around of a week or less. Brian ensures that the agreements are legal and that AU can uphold it's end of the agreement.

However, if you receive a form that is just asking for confirmation that the student is registered at American University, that's fine. This simply represents to the organization that we know the student to be actively enrolled with our university.

A colleague has asked me to choose one of my students for her internship opening. Is there a problem with that?

Actually, there is.

If you regularly post or tell students about internships or job openings, you can be considered an "employment agency," and as such, are subject to equal employment opportunity laws. Any opening would need to be made available to all qualified students, not just the one you think best fits the position. One can neither refer nor refuse to refer students based on race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, mental or physical disability, nor veteran's status. This applies to the faculty at one university who were regularly NOT referring women students to business positions, and conversely it refers to hand-picking a student of color to help your colleague increase diversity on their staff.

To be able to meet EEO requirements, AND to be able to help your colleagues find the best students, we suggest following these guidelines:

Disseminate as widely as possible any internship (paid or unpaid) and job opening you may get. The easiest way would be to e-mail openings to the Career Center at postjobs@american.edu, or fax them to 202-885-1861. We will post the position on Eaglejobs, available for all students to view. Of course, the position will most likely have minimum qualifications (experience, coursework, year in school) and that will help self-select applicants. Do not hold on to openings in a file or notebook which are only available to a select few.
Encourage your outstanding students to apply and write strong letters of reference for them, rather than selecting and referring them solely to your colleagues.
Feel free to decline to write a reference for students you feel are not qualified or whom you do not know well enough.

I have some ideas for really enriching my students' internship experiences. I'm also curious about what other faculty are doing.

Everyone does internships a little bit differently. And with over 1000 registered interns a year, there are a lot of challenges, a lot of successes, and a lot of opportunities to have academically rigorous and unique learning experiences for each of them.

In this InternshipScoop, we'd like to know what YOUR best practices are! What activities or assignments do you use with your internship students that have proven to be especially successful?

How can I make sure my students have a truly integrated learning experience during their internships?

When a student earns three credits for an internship, the learning should be as rigorous as that of a regular class. The advantage of an internship is that this learning is a combination of theory and practice that prepares students for life after graduation. To get the most from this experience, we encourage a three-pronged approach.

A substantive internship with no more than 15% clerical work and an academically rigorous syllabus,
An activity with the Career Center to put the internship into context with the greater career search,
A commitment by both students and faculty to adhere to AU's academic integrity code.

Your students have been in touch, and their academic assignments are looking good. But how can you ensure a satisfactory work experience for your students?

1. Site visits - visiting your student's internship site and meeting his or her supervisor gives you first-hand information about the internship and the chance to pick up on subtle messages that could be key in spotting problems and identifying opportunities.
2. Employer mid-semester feedback - encouraging your students to have a meeting with their supervisors can result in valuable affirmation as well as ensure that problems don't escalate. Their initiative will reflect well on them and start a good habit of asking for feedback.

For more ideas on internships, feel free to contact the internship advisors for your school listed below and other faculty colleagues who have extensive experience with internships at: http://www.american.edu/careercenter/faculty/faculty_month.html
OR
refer to our faculty resource manual at: http://www.american.edu/careercenter/faculty/internships/facultymanual.html

I have 4 interns, each doing something very different. How can I incorporate a reflection component for all of them?

Even if your students are doing internships in different fields, an e-mailed series of discussion questions can be very beneficial for them with relatively little time invested on your part. It is simple to incorporate this activity into an existing syllabus. One could also collaborate with colleagues for an interdisciplinary approach, particularly when there are only one or two students in a given discipline.

Three or four reflection questions via an e-mail list or Blackboard discussion board can:
* give students an opportunity to synthesize and articulate learning from their field experience,
* counter a sense of isolation through sharing experiences,
* keep students in touch with you regarding their successes and challenges.

Questions spaced throughout the semester could include:
* What has happened, regarding new learning and your work environment, that you did not expect?
* How do you see your role within the organization?
* What do you know now that you wish you had known before the internship began?
* What were the most valuable aspects of your internship academically, professionally, and personally?

A student has come to me asking for credit for something she did last semester. Can we arrange it as an internship for this semester?

* Experiential learning is a developmental process. Students need to complete academic work simultaneously with the field experiences.
* Reflection is a key to the learning that takes place in experiential education. The concurrent interchange between faculty and student is essential for a successful internship.
* Retroactive registration makes it difficult to verify the experience and puts in question the academic integrity of the learning.

If students are excited about an experience they had last semester, perhaps their experience can serve as a jumping off point for further academic work that their department may deem appropriate for independent research, for instance.

My student wants to get a federal government co-op. Those are problematic to get, aren't they? Don't they have to be for credit?

Federal government co-ops began changing when the Office of Personnel Management decentralized. What that meant was that each office and department was able to administer their student hiring programs as they saw fit. The term used most often now is Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). These SCEP experiences differ from regular internships in that after the students completes a set number of hours, he or she may be offered a permanent position through a noncompetitive process.
Students from any major can apply for SCEP positions.
Students generally need to hold American citizenship.
Students no longer are REQUIRED to earn academic credit to be eligible, however they must be currently enrolled at a college or university.
Students must have a signed agreement from their university with the sponsoring federal office, and these agreements can only be signed at American University by Brian Blair in Controller's Office.

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