This information is included in the Internship Packet, as well as an internship application, and evaluation forms. You can pick up the Internship Packet at the Department of Communication office in Walker Hall.

Student Internships Overview
Requirements for Internship
Guidelines for Internship Reports
Forms Online

Student Internships

The Department of Communication initiated an internship program over 15 years ago to give students the opportunity to acquire practical work experience in the field for which they preparing. Since then over 800 students have worked as interns in television and radio stations, advertising firms, public relations areas, and newspapers. It is not unusual for the student to be offered employment at the conclusion of internship.

The experience offered to interns has been varied. In some cases the student has been exposed to all facets of an industry, i.e., in one television station the student might work in all areas including news, production, sales and management. In other instances, the student receives a quick overview of the business and then assigned to a particular area for the rest of the internship. The only preference the department has is that the student be in a learning situation and that the internship be mutually beneficial to both the intern and the company.

Some students are paid interns while others receive no pay. Payment is usually made directly to the student but can be sent to the University and the intern will be paid by the University. We, of course, prefer that the student be paid something while interning. The student must meet the internship requirements as stated on the following page.

The student is responsible for finding an organization with which to do the internship and for preparing a job description of the internship with the help of the on-site supervisor. The Communication Department office has file of potential organizations that have expressed department which will review the application and the description and accept or deny the request for the internship. A student may earn 3-12 hours credit for performing the internship. An intern must work 40 hours for every academic hour of credit.

When a student is approved to do an internship, the Communication Department requests from the host business the following: that the departmental supervisor be permitted to contact the site supervisor by phone to check on the student's progress: that the site supervisor completes a short departmental evaluation form on the student every two weeks of the internship; that the site supervisor confer with the departmental supervisor to assign a grade of satisfactory or unsatisfactory to the student's internship performance; and that the departmental supervisor be permitted to visit the student on site at least once during the internship.

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Requirements for Internship

In order to qualify for the Communication Department's internship program, a student must meet the following conditions:

• have a junior rank at the University (the summer between the junior and senior years is the ideal time for an internship);
• have a grade point average of 3.0 in major courses
• find an organization for the internship that meets departmental approval-the internship should be performed under adequate supervision, should be an extension of course work into the real world, should not be just a "summer job", and should provide the student an opportunity to acquire new knowledge about the chosen major field of study; and
• secure approval of the internship proposal from a faculty member in the department and the department chairperson.

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Guidelines for Internship Reports

Department of Communication
Appalachian State University

Student Name
Period of Internship
Name of Field Agency

ALL internship students are expected to turn in two formal reports to the faculty supervisor in charge of the internship as follows:

I. FIRST REPORT (Should be turned in at the halfway point of the internship)

Include:

1. the duties with the field agency and the work done so far,
2. the challenges met so far
3. the difficulties and/or problems and how you have overcome them, and
4. what you expect for the remaining period of the internship.

I. FINAL REPORT (Should be turned in at least a half a week before the end of the internship)

Include:

1. what your responsibilities have been,
2. professional accomplishments and experiences,
3. similarities and differences between field work and classroom learning, and
4. your feelings in general about the internship program and your practical work as a whole in regard to your career goals

The report should be typed and double-spaced.
Several samples of your work from the internship should accompany the final report.
For more information on internships, e-mail Dr. Janice Pope.

Forms Online

The following links will pull up Microsoft Word files which you can then fill out and print.

Internship Contract Page 1
Internship Contract Page 2

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Site last updated: 10/16/2000
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