Internships

Students receive guidance in professional development and skills training. Employers receive intelligent, highly motivated, goal-oriented students eager to learn and skilled in time management.

An internship usually lasts one semester. You should spend at least 160 working hours in the organization. This averages out to 10 hours a week. Some internships do not follow this routine. Reach out to the Internship Director to see if your internship qualifys for credit. 

Intern after you have completed 18 hours of communication coursework and have at least a 2.5 GPA. Students can take COMM 4913 in Fall, Spring, and Summer. You must take COMM 4913 at the time you hold your internship position. Previous positions cannot be applied to the COMM 4913 course. 

Skill areas include (but are not limited to): public relations, sales & marketing, leadership, Internet, photojournalism, media production, teamwork, word processing, motivation, public speaking, customer service, persuasion, interpersonal communication, cross-cultural communication, conflict management, small group dynamics, graphic arts, promotional campaigns, surveys, brochures, information search.

After your internship contract has been approved by the Internship Director, COMM 4913 will be added to your schedule by the deadline for add/drop for the semester in which you've been enrolled. You do not have to do anything to add the internship to your schedule since enrollment in COMM 4913 is by permission of the Internship Director.

By the end of the first week of the semester, COMM 4913 should appear in both UA Connect and Blackboard. If it does not appear in UA Connect or Blackboard and your internship has been approved, contact the Internship Coordinator ASAP.

• The position must be directly related to the field of communication.
• Clerical work may not constitute more than 15% of the job and must be relevant to your other responsibilities.
• You must work a minimum of 160 hours over the semester.
• An on-site supervisor must be willing and able to mentor you and evaluate your professional communication skills and abilities.

• INTERNSHIP LOG: In order to earn academic credit for your internship, you must keep a log of your internship activities. The log consists of three parts: a summary of jobs done, a discussion of your host organization's communication, and the raw data record. Each component of the log must be typed and digitally submitted to Blackboard.
  
• JOB DESCRIPTION SUMMARY: This consists of a summary (3-6 pages typically) of your job activities. Each aspect of your job must be covered in a separate section. For example, an intern at a television station would write a summary with five sections that looks something like this (in outline form):
       1. Introduction
       2. Editing
       3. Taping
       4. Camera
       5. Other Duties. 
  Certainly the sections depend on the job. The important thing is to give each duty an individual heading. Show not only what you did, but also how it works and relates to other aspects of the job. Be concise.
  
• INTERNAL COMMUNICATION SUMMARY: This is a discussion of the communication at the place you interned. Discuss the way conflicts are caused and handled, the way information is processed through the organization, what type of feedback, if any, is present, and other things you have learned in your communication courses. Illustrate your job experiences using ideas, concepts, theories, and solutions from your communication classes.
• RAW DATA & WEEKLY OBSERVATIONS: Your observations can be broken down either on a day-to-day or weekly basis in paragraph form. This log will be valuable to future employers as you revise your resume.

You will receive credit or no credit. Internships are not given a letter grade.