School of Business Internships

• major or minor in one of the programs of School of Business
• junior or senior standing or minimum of 60 academic credits
• must have completed the introductory courses in their major. See table below
• must have acceptable academic standing based on department chair or internship instructor

Internship courses are 4-credit academic courses taken for letter grades, as defined in the following table: 

1. Contact the professor who will be teaching the course, and complete the information form.
2. Search for an internship:
   • Internships are available through Handshake at the Career Development Center
   • Contact the Career Development Center for an appointment to get help with locating a placement or preparing your resume or cover letter.
   • Attend the internship fairs during Fall and Spring Semesters at RIC. (Check with the Career Development Center for the schedule.
   • Attend other internship/job fairs within the state arranged by the state or universities or colleges. (Internship availabilities are also posted on the bulletin board next to the Finance Lab in Alger Hall.)
   • Search on your own using personal contacts and friends, internet searches, websites of specific businesses you're interested in
3. Apply/Interview
   • Before interview or after acceptance for the internship, contact the Professor teaching the course to seek approval of your job description.
4. Register for the course

Students will:

1. complete 140 hours of work at their internship
2. attend 6 of 8 scheduled classes.
3. submit their first "self-evaluation form" after about 30 hours of being at job
4. submit their second "self-evaluation form" after about 60 hours of being at the job.
5. add value to employer, i.e., formulate and complete a project that is valuable to the organization:
   • conducting / analyzing patient/client/customer satisfaction surveys
   • conducting research for a new service
   • helping design a new program/service 
   • evaluating a current program/service 
   • conducting a market analyses 
   • conducting a chart audit and recommending improvements in quality (Students may come up with their own ideas and choose a project particular to their employer. The outcome of this project will produce a report/document that can be used by employer to add value to their organization and will be used by teacher for grading.) 
6. conduct a project for self-improvement that includes:
   • identifying a deficiency they have identified about themselves, or…
   • a skill/competency they want to personally improve upon, and…
   • after conducting some research, writing up a plan as to how they can improve this skill/competency.  
   • this will produce a short paper to be used by themselves for self-improvement and by teacher for grading. 
7. present their learnings and accomplishments to class through a PowerPoint presentation
8. submit a Reflection Paper to teacher on the whole experience close to end of semester

Please Note: An internship is considered a job. Therefore, students can be terminated if they are not performing as expected. This will result in a failing grade. The Instructor of the Internship class should be notified whenever there are problems and before the termination of a student.

Please Note: You are agreeing that if you have not finished your 140 hours of work or any other requirements by the end of the semester due to an acceptable reason such as late placement, an Incomplete (I) grade will be awarded. Students shall finish the requirements before or during the following semester for change of (I) grade to a letter grade, otherwise the grade will automatically change to an (F).

The internship course instructor will:

1. approve the internship job before student starts his/her internship job
2. get in touch with the intern’s job supervisor as soon as “Class Information Form” is provided by student
3. communicate with job supervisor to track performance and improvements of student intern
4. provide job supervisor documents on internship course requirements and responsibilities for all involved parties, and copy of final evaluation
5. advise student interns regarding their internship responsibilities, professional development and shall initiate job related discussions or presentations in class
6. advise with both mini-papers of self-improvement and value adding to the place of internship
7. request job supervisor to fill up and return a final evaluation on student intern’s performance which will be used for grading purposes
8. be responsible for grading students based on attendance, self-evaluation forms, PowerPoint presentation, the mini papers, Reflection Paper and supervisor’s evaluation
9. be the liaison between School of Business at RIC and business where the student is placed and will be available to facilitate a smooth productive internship experience

The internship supervisor will:

1. Provide student interns with clear job requirements. Students shall know about their responsibilities and supervisor’s expectations.
2. Assign responsibilities to students related to their major where they could contribute, add value and develop their skill and knowledge.
3. Understand that although it is understood that students may be expected to perform limited clerical duties, they must also be given opportunities to work somewhat independently in order to develop their initiative, creativity, and problem solving skills. The internship must help students to further develop their human relations skills as well as their professional conduct and sense of personal integrity.
4. Help students outline their job responsibilities.
5. Schedule days and hours at convenient and efficient times based on agreement of both students and the internship supervisor.
6. Require a total number of 140 hours for internship course. However, the supervisor and the student may agree to do more number of hours to finish an un-finished project. 
7. Support and mentor and periodically evaluate student intern’s performance and make suggestions for improvement.
8. Understand that an internship is considered a job. Therefore, students can be terminated if they are not performing as expected. This will result in a failing grade.  The Internship Course Instructor should be notified whenever there are problems and before the termination of a student.
9. Complete the final evaluation on performance, behavior, and professionalism of intern at the end of the internship job and send to class faculty.
10. Understand that this final evaluation along with student self evaluations and other class requirements will be used for grading purposes.