History Department Internships

Purpose: The purpose of internships is to allow students to learn history, historical interpretation, and/or historical conservation practices from real world experiences. The internship should compliment, not replace, in-class course work. The student should use the internship to compare in-class studies with out of class experiences.

Prerequisites:

A) History Majors and Minors: Completion of the departmental core distribution requirements. Junior or Senior standing. Approval by department chair.

B) Students outside of the department (non-majors and minors): Junior or Senior standing.

Adequate background courses related to the internship. Approval by department chair.

C) An interview with Center for Experiential Learning Director Dr. Dora Gallegos to review internship options and goals.

Requirements: The necessary requirements are based upon the number of credits to be received for the internship. See below.

A) Initial Paper: Before the internship begins, the student must write a short paper (3-5 pages) that describes her or his expectations for the internship. The paper should include all thoughts and expectations.

The paper should tie together expectations of the internship to completed course work, especially knowledge of historical content areas, historiography, and/or historical conservation practices.

B) Journal: The student will keep a daily journal on her or his activities during the internship. The journal should include any impressions and thoughts on these activities. The student should concentrate on items that were different from expectations and contrary to knowledge gained during in-class course work. The journal should be submitted to the instructor on a weekly basis during the internship.

C) Final Paper: After the completion of the work for the internship but before the final grade is given, the student must write a final paper that compares their experience during the internship with their expectations. What was learned during the internship? How were the student’s expectations different from his or her actual experience? Be specific. Also, the student should note the differences between in-class learning and the internship. If the student completed a set of tasks, these should be cataloged with supporting evidence if the work resulted in concrete products (interpretive signage, archival catalogs, etc.)

D) Portfolio: All materials in areas A) through C) will be combined into a single portfolio of work produced through the internship. Any exhibits of work completed during the internship should be included in the portfolio.

E) Center for Experiential Learning:  Students must additionally complete all requirements for internships set by CEL:  these requirements may be reviewed here:  http://www.albertson.edu/academics/career/internships.asp?ID=academics.

Credits and Requirements: Based upon the number of credits to be awarded for the internship, students will need to perform the following requirements:

A) One Credit: The student will be required to work at least twenty hours at the internship location and complete the Final Paper described above.

B) Two Credits: The student will be required to work at least forty hours at the internship location and complete the Journal and Final Paper described above.

C) Three Credits: The student will be required to work at least sixty hours at the internship and complete the Initial Paper, the Journal, the Final Paper and the Portfolio described above.

N.B.  The requirements for minimum hours worked are absolute minimums.  Many internship granting agencies, especially for summer internships, will require substantially more involvement ranging above 150 hours of contact time and work.

(In order to receive academic credit for the internship, the student must be enrolled in HIS 497)

Grading- Grading for the internship will be done by the assigned instructor from the department.

Before grading, a letter from the intern sponsor should be sent to the instructor with general comments on the

                        student’s performance and verification of the number of hours worked by the student.

The instructor should try to visit the intern site and sponsor during the course of the internship, if possible.