Ways for alumni to volunteer
to provide students career support
These are a few ways alumni can volunteer to provide career support to our students:
To volunteer for any of these programs, use this form.
January Career Exploreships
Length: variable, negotiated between the host alum and student
Location: Twin Cities Metro Area (for initial year)
Credit: none
Supported by: the Macalester Internship Program Office
Designed as highly flexible job shadowing experiences focusing on matching sophomores with Alumni, these Career Exploreships are amazing opportunities for the student to explore career options, learn about a discipline, gain exposure to the world of work, and perhaps help settle on a major. Alumni can determine the extent of their involvement in terms of amount of time with the student (e.g. a day, a week, etc.), location, plan of action, etc. Some alumni may even be willing to host an out-of-town student in their home for this short duration to allow them to also see the work/home life balance. While faculty are not directly involved, the Internship Office provides support to the experience.
Benefits: Flexibility in planning amount of time, more casual, focus on observation.
January Academic Internships
Length: three weeks (Jan. 4, 2010 to Jan. 22, 2010)
Location: Anywhere in the world
Credit Options: one credit = 20 hours/week (minimum of 60),
two credits = 40 hours/week (minimum of 120)
Supported by: the Macalester Internship Program Office and individual faculty sponsors
In academic, credit-bearing internships, the student works with a faculty sponsor to develop a learning contract with learning objectives for the experience that help the student examine connections between the work/organization and curricular interests. Due to the short but intense nature of January internships, the focus of the work is usually more project based, e.g. doing research, developing a brochure or website, etc.; a Mac student can get a lot done in 60 or 120 hours working with your organization! It may also be productive as a structured, more intensive job shadowing for students with strong professional direction (pre-med, law, etc.). To earn credit, the intern must produce academic assignments for the sponsoring faculty that are used to assess accomplishments and learning.
Benefits: Geographically flexible. Students tend to be more academically engaged/focused, balance of learning and work done to benefit host organization, full three-week commitment. The cost of the credit is “free” (considered part of their tuition).
Academic Term Internships
Length: 10-15 weeks within the parameters of the term
Location: Primarily Twin Cities for Spring and Fall terms. Summer internships may be anywhere in the world.
Credit: Determined by minimum time commitment (140 hrs./term = 4 cr.; 105 hrs./term = 3 cr.; 75 hrs./term = 2 cr.; 45 hrs./term = 1 cr.)
Supported by: the Macalester Internship Program Office and individual faculty sponsors.
These internships are taken as credit-bearing classes during the regular term as a part of their student’s overall class schedule. Instead of the compressed intensity of the January Academic Internship, the Academic Term Internship occurs over a significantly longer period of time at a reduced number of hours per week, allowing for a different kind of prolonged learning experience. In these Academic Internships, interns develop a learning contract with a faculty person that helps them connect the work being done in the community organization with their academic course of study. Interns fully expect to contribute to the mission of the host organization through their own meaningful work.
Benefits: longer time engaged with the organization allows intern to follow through with projects, form meaningful relationships with clients and co-workers, gain better understanding of how the host organization and discipline functions.
Career Panel Participation
Share your expertise with current students. The alumni career panels are an informal social event, where Mac alums answer questions and share their career experiences with students from related majors. Alumni Career Nights are hosted on-campus. For further information on how you can participate, please contact John Mountain, Associate Director, Career Development Center at mountain@macalester.edu or 651-696-6729.
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