Communications 495: Internship Seminar

COMM 495: Catalog (Short) Course Description

Seminar based on internship experience. Offered for College of Communications students who complete an approved internship. 0 to 1 undergraduate hours. 0 graduate hours. Approved for S/U grading only. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 2 undergraduate hours or 0 graduate hours. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 3 undergraduate hours or 0 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (the instructor for the course is the current director of the Media Studies program).

COMM 495: Complete Course Description

College of Communications students may earn one credit hour of academic credit if they engage in an approved internship. Internship study courses enrich the educational experience of students and allow for first-hand learning. They afford opportunities to examine and apply communication theory and principles in a work setting related to students' career objectives. The program helps place students in various fields such as public relations, government, education, health care, public service, private industry, personnel, social services and radio and TV production, online and new media, broadcasting and management.

The competition for internships is stiff, but nearly every one of our students who desires an internship finds a suitable one each year. Usually there are about 12 students who intern during the school year, and 10 to 20 who work at internships over the summer.

Students obtain the internships on their own but work with the internship director to earn academic credit. During their internship, the student must send a five-paragraph (or more) report each week for 10 or more weeks via e-mail to the internship director, explaining their duties in some detail and analyzing the work they are performing. They evaluate their internship experience. What are they being taught to do? What have they learned about the operation? What work experience would they have liked to have that is not offered? What do they find interesting, frustrating, enjoyable and onerous about their job, and why?

Students report that their internship experiences have been valuable in getting them into their chosen professions and in helping them to decide just what they do and do not wish to do in their professional lives. They also testify to the importance of the internship study course, saying that it was one of the most vital and personal interchanges they had had with a professor during their time at the University.

In the past five years, student interns have worked in promotions at Chicago radio stations, in production in local television news programs across the country, at FOX News New York, and for "Fear Factor" and "CSI: Miami;" as writers for Twentieth-Century Fox TV, Disney World and Miramax Productions; as public relations assistants for charities, advertising firms and corporations in Champaign, Chicago, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Detroit, England, France, Italy and Korea; in the advertising departments of J.C. Penney, Home Depot, Bank Illinois and Giant Foods; and in political campaigns and lobby groups for local, state and national politicians, parties and interest groups.

Graduates of the media studies program have found employment in the entertainment industry, in business and in research and public information for corporations and nonprofit organizations such as schools, hospitals and foundations. The degree also serves as preparation for those desiring a master's degree in a specific communications field or for other graduate or professional work in areas such as political science, law, or service-oriented vocations.