What is an Academic Internship at Clark?

Application deadline for academic credit:
Spring 2010: 1:00 PM, Thursday, January 21, 2010

An academic internship is a credit-bearing, career-related work experience of limited duration in which an individual takes on responsible roles outside of the traditional university environment in a non-profit organization, government office or for-profit business.

Internships must include training and supervision. Depending on the employer, some internship positions are paid. This valuable form of professional training provides students with the opportunity to test their career interests in an off-campus setting. Sophomores, juniors, or seniors may earn academic credit for internships during the fall, spring or summer terms.

Undergraduate Academic Credit Internship Program (PDF)
Note:  Undergraduate students MUST read the Academic Credit Internship Program description (pdf above) in order to apply for an internship for credit at Clark.  Graduate students do not use this paperwork; instead, they work with their academic departments to obtain credit. 

Application for Academic Internship Credit (PDF)

Application for Barth Summer Internship Award (PDF)

Clark students write about their internships

JOE: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

• Read about his experience.

  • What were the specific tasks you worked on for this organization?
    “My work will involve learning about the mathematical and physical behavior of stationary, nonstationary and stochastic systems. Most of the analytical modeling that I will be conducting will be done with the help of MatLab. Some of my work will include analysis of data collected by Aquarius, an orbiting satellite that uses a radiometer to measure the salinity of Earth’s oceans.”

    What have you learned from this internship?
    “I had been meaning to gain some simple programming skills and I have some now. I learned a lot of things here that I would never have learned at school. I wish I could have dug deeper into the research and analysis; however, I ran into some obstacles with my data sets that required a lot of data “tweaking” and was a distraction. My mentor was very helpful though with any problems I came across in my research and he would often help me work out a problem in person and also point me to several helpful books that described related phenomenon or methods of analysis.”

    How did you first find out about your internship opportunity?
    “It was listed in the school’s Student Digest that NASA was looking for undergraduate researchers.”

 

DANIELLE: Center for Families at Children’s Hospital

• Read about her experience.

  • What were the specific tasks you worked on for this organization?
    “I helped to run a bereavement clinic for parents and families who had lost a child, this included planning, running group discussions, transcribing several hours of notes and conversations, and writing a detailed summary of the event, which I presented to the people I worked with. I also presented at the 2nd Annual Conference for Patient and Family-Centered Care. This is an invitational conference that was held in Boston. I had to prepare a presentation of the work I had done with teenage patients as well as with families and give a talk on it. Additionally, I supervised several patients, siblings of patients, and volunteers who make up the Teen Advisory Committee as they filmed a short documentary, created a website, and planned a hospital-wide presentation about the Teen Advisory Committee and what they do. I also helped to plan two hospital-wide events for teenaged patients.”

    What have you learned from this internship?
    “I was able to interact with patients, improve communication skills, work independently, and actively problem solve under intense situations. I was also able to form relationships with families.”

    How did you first find out about your internship opportunity?
    “I found out about the internship since I have been working there for 6 years.”