URBS 4/697—Internship

Term: 

 

Instructor:  Tony Filipovitch  (507-389-5035; tony@mnsu.edu)

Outcomes:

This course involves scheduled work assignments, varying in length and content, under the supervision of selected professional sponsors.


The internship experience should reinforce and deepen your classroom preparation in:

  1. Interpersonal skills of collaboration/negotiation/mediation to accomplish professional goals
  2. Ability to prepare and implement individual projects to meet professional standards
  3. Problem-identification and problem-solving skills
  4. Practicing democratic decision-making with diverse communities
  5. Identify & discriminate key values and ethical issues in professional practice

Requirements:

Time Commitment

An internship entails 70-100 hours per credit.  Since a semester is normally 15 weeks and a full-time commitment is 40 hours, the maximum credit that can be earned is generally 6 credits.

Supervision

The internship is supervised by both the department (usually the student’s advisor) and the employer.  While the final grade will be given by the academic supervisor, it will be done in close consultation with the employment supervisor.

·        The employment supervisor completes an internship agreement form, specifying the duties to be performed (including at least one project for which the intern will be responsible from initiation through completion), completes a mid-term assessment, and completes a final assessment.  On-site, the employment supervisor provides orientation, training, supervision and guidance, and performance assessment.

·        The academic supervisor confers with the intern and the employment supervisor in setting the performance expectations for the internship, monitors regular progress of the intern on learning objectives, and provides final assessment of the internship experience.

Intern Duties

The student is responsible for

·        Consulting with the academic supervisor in the process of identifying and securing an internship position (The Department will assist the student in locating internship opportunities, but does not provide or guarantee internship postings).

·        Maintaining a daily or weekly log of activities, reading, and reflections on those experiences

·        Developing at least one professional-level project from initiation through completion

·        Regular meetings/contacts with academic supervisor

·        Presenting oneself and performing in a professional manner, with due consideration to teamwork, professional values, and individual integrity/initiative

Grading:

The weighting of elements in the grading system may be negotiated, but generally it will include:

(with assistance from Robin Popik.  2009. “Volunteer Internships Benefit Local Government and Students,” PM, 91(1), 24-26)