Internship guidelines

The heritage of sociology has involved bringing academic knowledge into the community, to understand and respond to social concerns. Through systematic field work sociologists show – following C. Wright Mills – the ways in which people’s “private problems” are “public issues.” In the process we critically evaluate our knowledge in light of observation and participation.

The department encourages such a course of study through a directed internship.

An internship is the academically informed study of social issues through structured field work in the community. Its goals are:

1. to deepen the understanding of a social issue provided by the formal learning,
2. to provide the student with an in-depth field experience, and
3. to make a contribution to the community in the process of learning.

An internship requires a significant semester-long commitment to a supervised placement and related academic study.

Internship placements for sociology students can be found in a variety of areas, some of which include criminal justice, elderly services, health-related services, media, and women’s services and programs. Some programs and agencies that sponsor student internships are the Public Defender’s Office, Worcester Juvenile Probation Office, The Age Center of Worcester, St. Francis Adult Day Health Center, American Civil Liberties Union, Abby’s House (shelter for homeless women), Daybreak (battered women’s services), Planned Parenthood, the City Planning Department, and legislators’ offices. For more information and an extensive list of agencies that offer student internships, please consult the internship listings in Career Connections Center.

Students are encouraged to select placements in the term preceding the internship. They are also expected to complete an internship application, available from the Internship Office in Career Services, by the due date. No more than two credits of internship may be counted toward the sociology major, and no more than one credit may be counted toward the minor.

Time commitment

The internship should comprise of one or two full courses of work. While majors are not required to pursue internship credit, all majors may choose to fulfill one or two major credits through internships. In no case should an internship be less than one full course. It is expected that a course unit requires from ten to twelve hours of work per week that includes eight to ten hours at the placement, supervisory conferences, and research. The remaining hours will consist of completing readings and written assignments connected with the internship.

Supervision

Students must have a faculty supervisor from the department. An internship must also have at least one person at the field placement to whom the intern is responsible and who agrees to evaluate the intern’s work. The department requires that field supervisors offer regular supervision to the student in the placement.

When faculty supervision is available, internships may be undertaken during the summer for sociology credit. Students then need to register through the School of Professional Studies. As with all summer credits, however, permission must be obtained first through Academic Advising. See your advisor to discuss possibilities.

Connection to academic work

The department faculty assumes that an intern will either work on a bibliography with the supervising faculty member as part of the internship agreement or pursue bibliographical material suggested by the faculty member in the course of an ongoing learning contract.

Regular conferences with faculty members will include discussion of problems at the internship placement and review of relevant literature. Some examples of written work that may be required depending on the placement are a journal of work and supervisory experience, interim or final project reports, and research papers. All internships are taken credit/no record. In extraordinary circumstances, students may petition the dean of the college for a grade.