Internship Guidelines & Procedures
Urban Community Studies Tri-Campus
WHY: Internships are an excellent means for Urban and Community Studies majors to explore the urban community around them, to learn about the inner workings of non-profit agencies, and to explore possible careers while performing meaningful community service.
When: UCS majors are strongly encouraged to do internships during their senior year, when they have completed a significant amount of coursework within the major. This enables students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to their fieldwork, as well as to apply research and writing skills developed within the courses to the internship paper assignments.
What: Internships are listed in the UConn catalog and our website as URBN 231 and 232. Students sign up for both classes for a total of 6 credits. URBN 231 is the actual internship, consisting of 120 hours of fieldwork for the agency (8-10 hours per week) and a field journal. URBN 231 is graded on a Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory basis and counts as a general (not UCS) elective. URBN 232 is the formal research, writing, and reflection done for the internship and is given a letter grade. It counts as an elective within the major.
How: Students should meet with the UCS Program Manager and/or advisor who will help assess their areas of interest. They may also pick from a roster of internship opportunities provided by the UCS program, or find their own. Students are encouraged to pick internships that reflect their academic interests, expand their skills, and help them to get a sense of a potential career path.
Internship Timeline – Pre–internship [The semester previous to the internship]- Student meets with UCS Program Manager/Faculty about internship possibilities.
- Student and UCS representative contact agency.
- UCS representative may meet with agency and student.
- Student and agency supervisor fill out an intake form.
- Student signs up for URBN 231/232.
- Faculty approves the internship structure and content.
- Supervisor meets with and orients student, makes arrangement for structure (a once a week meeting between intern and supervisor is recommended).
- Student starts 8-10 hour-per-week internship.
- Student starts and maintains a fieldwork journal which includes a listing of days and hours worked, a daily account of the work he/she does along with thoughts and feelings regarding the work, the agency's operations and their relation to larger themes and issues the student has studied within his/her Urban and Community Studies classes. Student should pay close attention to how his/her perceptions and understanding of the agency evolves during the course of the semester. This journal will be handed in to the supervising faculty 3-4 times during the semester.
- Student meets once with fellow interns and faculty coordinator, hands in journal.
- Student writes a short paper on the history, structure, funding sources', and purpose of organization, including any relevant agency materials as attachments. Intern should describe the personnel structure of the organization and how his/her position fits within it (see sample organizational analysis sheets for guidance).
- Program Manager or faculty coordinator visits agency to review progress of student within the placement. Discusses with student and supervisor what has been accomplished and what remains to be done.
- Student meets once with fellow interns, program manager and local faculty member, hands in journal.
- Student writes a 2-3 page paper on his/her perceptions of the placement after half a term's work. He/she describes how he/she would revise/expand his/her background paper in light of the placement experience thus far.
- Student meets once with fellow interns and faculty coordinator, hands in journal.
- Supervisor fills out evaluation form on student
- Student researches and writes a 12-15 page final paper, drawing upon the previous two papers, the journal, and relevant literature in the field within which the agency works. The successful paper will be a blend of analysis of the particular organization with a larger view of the field that helps contextualize the student′s work and that of the agency. The paper should address the following:
- The agency's history- how and why it was founded, how it has changed over time.
- Problems or issues the agency addresses–what are its causes, its extent, and its effects? How is the problem defined and who defines it?
- Constituency for services: How does the agency recruit its clients? What range of people use the agency's services? How are they involved in the organization and in the solution to the problem[s] being addressed?
- Structure of the organization: Is it informal/formal, hierarchical/participatory? How are the organization's tasks accomplished and by whom?
- Funding: sources, extent, constraints, and opportunities. How does the nature and amount of funding affect the organization's mission, goals, ability to be successful?
- Organizational goals: what is the agency trying to accomplish both long term and short term?
- Overarching strategy/plan for addressing problems and achieving goals.
- Specific interventions/programs with which student is involved. How does student's work connect to organizational mission, goals, and client needs? In addition to discussing the specific effort[s] or program[s] with which student was involved, this is a good opportunity to go beyond the journal and discuss any developments, surprises, barriers, learning experiences that were especially instructive or reflective of the virtues [and/or limits] of the internship organization.
- Opportunities: What opportunities or special resources inside and outside the agency have made it particularly successful?
- Opposition or barriers: What obstacles inside and outside of the agency prevented it from being even more successful?
- Evaluate the success of program, how it relates to organizational mission, goals, strategies, barriers, etc. What could be changed at the agency to improve things? What could be changed in the larger world to affect the goals of the agency and needs of the people it serves? Consider the structural factors outside the agency that influence the problem and may transcend the agency's ability to address the problem. What else needs to be done?
- Relation to classroom: What theories, analyses, texts, lectures, etc. has student thought of as he/she has worked at the agency? Which have provided particular insights and in what ways? Any special additions that the internship contributed to the student's classroom learning?
- Relation to career path: Any insights the internship may have given the student regarding his/her possible career.
Remember: Students are expected to fulfill the internship in a professional and responsible manner. In each agency, the student is an ambassador of the University of Connecticut and the Urban and Community Studies program. Future internship and employment opportunities at the agency may well depend upon the student′s professional conduct. We request that students be responsible about reporting to the agency and completing assignments as they would with any job. Each student must complete the 120 hours satisfactorily in order to receive credit for the internship.
The Tri-Campus Internship Contract Form: Internship Contract [pdf] [doc]