MACALESTER'S INTERNSHIP PROGRAM … is an academic program designed
to provide students with structured, off-campus, work-learning experiences
and to promote a partnership between Macalester, the community and
the world of work. Each year, more than 200 students from 30 academic
disciplines participate in internships. Students take on responsible
roles as workers in a broad range of organizations in fine arts, government,
nonprofit, education, and business. Most students earn course credit
for their internships.
Participating in the program means engaging
in an educational strategy that links classroom learning and "real-life"
situations. Organizations agree to provide challenging, substantial
work experiences for students and to supervise and evaluate their
performance. In exchange, organizations receive valuable work contributions
from creative, highly motivated pre-professionals, helping positively
influence the development of the future work force in the field.
Students work directly with site supervisors
to create and manage their own internship experiences. Under the joint
supervisor of a faculty member and internship site supervisor, a student
completes a learning contract that outlines his or her goals for undertaking
the internship and describes how the experience will be evaluated
and graded.
A SUCCESSFUL INTERNSHIP REQUIRES
THE COORDINATED EFFORTS OF MANY PARTNERS, PLAYING DIFFERENT ROLES:
· STUDENT INTERN …
the whole reason for the program! The student is responsible for searching,
planning, and arranging the internship, utilizing the support and resources
of the Internship Program and faculty. The intern is expected to fulfill
all performance expectations in the internship/work setting as well
as all academic learning outcome measures as outlined in the Internship
Learning Contract.
· INTERNSHIP SITE …
is the community organization that hosts the intern. The site must design
an internship involving work that is substantial, challenging, and fully
supported by the organization. While the work of the intern should clearly
benefit the organization, it is important to keep in mind that it is
primarily to be a quality learning experience for the student where
they may develop skills, learn about the world of work, and connect
the experience to their academic discipline. It is inappropriate for
a site to rely on an intern to replace a paid staff position, to do
only administrative support work, or to function autonomously and without
supervision.
· SITE SUPERVISOR …
is the person at the internship site responsible for supervising the
actual hands-on work of the intern in the organization. The site supervisor
is expected to provide a written position description, orient and provide
necessary training for the intern, and complete evaluations of the intern's
performance and progress midway and at the end of the term. The role
of the internship site supervisor is to support the student in learning
new skills, exploring career options, and applying new knowledge through
the “hands-on” work in the organization.
· FACULTY SPONSOR …
oversees the academic direction of the learning experience of the internship,
helping the student make the connections between the work experience
and the theory learned in the classroom. As the internship progresses,
the intern is to maintain contact with the faculty sponsor for ongoing
guidance, direction, and support. At the end of the experience, the
sponsor will award a grade and credit for the completed internship based
on feedback received from the internship site supervisor and academic
assignments that demonstrate what has been learned during the experience.
· INTERNSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR
… is responsible for the administration and coordination of the
efforts of all the partners in the internship process. The Director
facilitates the student’s search for an internship, the registration
process, and the gathering/dissemination of evaluation data. He is a
resource to sites in the development and promotion of quality internships
and is available to faculty interested in creating experiential educational
components to coursework. The Director is the primary source of support
to students and site supervisors alike in addressing problems that might
arise in the internship.
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