internships > hosting an internship
Thank you for your interest in possibly hosting an internship. I am very proud to send our students into the community to learn about leadership and management in the public and nonprofit sectors, and I am so grateful to the organizational leaders who join me as co-educators for our interns.
If I've directed you here after receiving an inquiry from you, I hope you don't mind being sent to read a webpage, but I've found this is the best way to get all the important information out.
Here are some questions and answers for you to consider as you're thinking about hosting an internship:
What students are we talking about here?
I need to get this one out of the way up front: I supervise interns in UTC's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program and in the undergraduate political science major except for the undergraduate students in the Public Administration and Nonprofit Management (PANM) concentration. Those students are required to complete and internship, and that program works a bit differently. For information about hosting a PANM intern, please contact PANM coordinator Dr. Michelle Evans at michelle-evans@utc.edu (but you might as well keep reading here, too, because a lot of this will still apply!).
What is our internship program all about?
We offer internships that help prepare students for leadership roles in public and nonprofit organizations. Our interns do administrative/management/policy-related work like research and write grant applications, develop program evaluation plans, help conduct program evaluations, document policies and procedures, organize collaborations, provide the host organization's services to other organizations, collect budget data, develop and implement marketing strategies, conduct policy research, develop and implement policy advocacy programs, and work on electoral campaigns. While everyone does grunt work sometimes, interns' primary tasks must help them learn something about political science, public administration, public policy, or nonprofit management. If you're unsure about the suitability of tasks you have in mind, I'm happy to talk to you about it.
To learn more about our internship program, I encourage you to take a look at the main internship page. This information was written for students, but you will find it helpful, too. You may be especially interested in the syllabi available there, which explains everything students are required to do to receive academic credit for internships.
What is our internship program NOT about?
We don't place students in internships that primarily involve providing direct services to individuals and families. (If you're interested in something like that, you may want to contact UTC's fantastic Department of Social Work). We rarely place students in for-profit businesses, though something like a government relations department may be appropriate. If your organization is a for-profit business, please determine whether DOL regulations require that your interns be paid.
What are the requirements for host organizations?
Host organizations need to be able to provide enough work that will help students prepare for leadership in public and nonprofit organizations. Undergraduate students receive 1 academic credit each 50 hours worked; graduate students receive 1 academic credit for each 100 hours worked. Most internships are 3 credit hours, requiring 150 or 300 hours of on-site work. Regardless of the total number of hours worked, internships must last at least 10 weeks. Ideally, internships begin in early January, mid-May, or early August.
Interns must be assigned a primary supervisor, who will help (along with the student and the faculty advisor) develop a work plan that meets the program's learning objectives, supervise the intern's work, provide ongoing formative feedback, and complete an end-of-internship evaluation. Generally, we ask that the supervisor have a master's degree in a relevant field, but we make exceptions based on the supervisor's experience and position.
What are the eligibility requirements for students?
MPA students must be in good standing with the program, which means they have at least a 3.0 GPA. Undergraduates must have a minimum 2.75 GPA and junior or senior status. Note, though, that you can exceed our eligibility requirements, such as by requiring a higher GPA or specific skills.
Are interns paid?
Many of our internships are unpaid. However, offering funding, even if it is a small stipend, makes internships accessible to more students and helps your organization attract a good pool of intern candidates. Again, if your organization is a for-profit business, please determine whether DOL regulations require that your interns be paid.
What are the logistics of getting an intern?
Once approved as an internship opportunity, matching students to host organizations operates much like running a job search. You decide how you want interns to apply, whether that's with a specific form or by emailing you a letter of interest or sending smoke signals. You can ask students to supply you with the kind of information you would request from any job candidate, such as academic credentials, work history, a statement of interest, letters of recommendation, and writing samples. Students are expected to apply sometime around midsemester of the semester before they want to complete the internship, so you'd need to work within that schedule. If you decide to accept the student, you and the student confirm that with me. Close to the beginning of the internship, I will usually meet with you and the student to help get things started.
Can you promise me an intern?
Regrettably, no. The "free market" approach to placing interns means that I cannot guarantee that you will receive an intern, just as I do not guarantee that I can place every student in an internship. It does, however, help ensure that you and the student will both be happy with the internship experience. As you think about recruiting an intern, consider how to make the internship look attractive to the type of student you want to apply and how to craft your application process to make sure your organization and the student are a good fit.
OK! I'm definitely interested in hosting an internship. What do I do?
Super! To be considered for inclusion on the list of potential internship sites, please send a written statement describing (1) your organization, (2) the type of work that you'd be interested in having an intern complete and what an intern would learn through this work, (3) the name and qualifications of the staff person who would be primarily responsible for supervising an intern, (3) any eligibility requirements you may have for internship applicants, and (4) the amount of stipend (if any) awarded to interns.
If you'd like, you can also go ahead and send your "blurb" to market your internship opportunity to students. You can get an idea of what to include by looking at the current list of internship opportunities. (Sell it!) You can also wait to send this to me once I've had a chance to look over the information you send and we make sure it's a suitable placement.
Thank you, again, for your interest in working with our students. I am happily overwhelmed by the support we receive, especially from our local community, and I really am so grateful for it. If you have any questions or just want to talk about developing an internship opportunity, please feel free to contact me.