UW-RF Journalism Internship Instructions

Welcome to the UW-RF Journalism Department

Colleen Callahan, Internship Coordinator
UW-RF Journalism Department
410 South 3rd Street
River Falls, WI 54022
715-425-3169

JOUR 379 (3 credits) may be applied toward Journalism Electives in either the journalism major or minor. Grading is on a PASS/FAIL basis.

A student must work a minimum of 150 hours (approximately 11 hrs/week in a 14-week semester or 13 hrs/week during the summer).

Write a letter to the Journalism internship coordinator. Indicate your decision to take an internship for academic credit and include the following information:

your UW-RF ID #, address, telephone #, and e-mail address
name, address, telephone of employer
general job description
courses (with grades) you've taken that will relate to the job
name of site supervisor

Have your site supervisor write a letter to the Journalism internship coordinator. The letter must be on company letterhead and signed. The letter may be faxed to the Journalism office at 715-425-0658. E-mails are not acceptable. Make sure your supervisor is aware of your registration deadline. The letter must include the following:

confirmation that you have been hired
your specific duties and responsibilities
the starting and ending dates, hours/week, total number of weeks, and total number of hours.
remuneration: indicate whether the internship is a paid position. If so include the amount.
agreement to provide a written evaluation of your work at the end of the internship.

Keep a weekly journal of what you learned and accomplished and your impressions of the company (management, organization, morale, etc.). The journal will be helpful later when you write a summary of your experience.

Collect samples of your work to turn in with your summary.

Expect a planned (not a surprise) on-site visit by the coordinator to assess your progress. If the internship is not within driving distance, expect a telephone call.

Write a summary (3-5 pages, double-spaced) of your experience: What did you learn/accomplish? Would you recommend the internship to others? Be specific. Attach samples of your work.

Remind your site supervisor to send your evaluation to the internship coordinator.

NOTE: Internship credit will not be entered on your transcript until both your summary and the site supervisor's evaluation are received.

ACADEMIC INTERNSHIP EVALUATION FORM

To the site supervisor: Thank you for taking time to evaluate one of our students who has worked as an intern with your company. Please note that this information will be shared with the student.

Intern's name:

Company's name:

Intern's job title:

Site-supervisor's name:

Supervisor's e-mail address:

Time period:

Number of hours/week worked:

Work/tasks performed by the intern (please be specific):

Did the intern spend more time on one or two of the tasks listed above?

Yes No

If yes, which ones?

How frequently did you observe the intern's work?

Daily Weekly Less than weekly

How closely did you have to supervise the intern?

Closely supervised and had to follow through to completed tasks

Occasionally supervised and had to follow through to completed tasks

Never needed to supervise (intern completed tasks independently)

How often did you evaluate the intern's work? Regularly Seldom Never

Was the intern reliable? Always Most of the time Sometimes Never

Did the intern carry out projects on time?

Always Most of the time Sometimes Never

Did the intern work well under deadline pressure?

Always Most of the time Sometimes Never

Please describe the deadlines involved and the type of deadline work:

What do you think are the intern's outstanding strengths?

What do you think are the intern's primary weaknesses?

Overall, how much improvement did you observe?

A great deal Some Little None

In what areas did the intern make the most improvement (reporting, writing, editing skills, time management, news judgment, abilty to accept criticism, etc.)?

Please rate the intern's overall quality of work:

Outstanding Above average Average Below Average

Please make additional comments regarding your experience working with the intern:

Signature

Date