David Simmons
Department Chair
Email: simmonsd@uww.edu
David Reinhart
Master Advisor & Liberal Studies Coorindator
Email: reinhard@uww.edu
Students in the Liberal Studies Program have the option of completing an internship through the LIBST 493 course. In LIBST 493, students are able to work with a company or public service agency and combine academic learning with practical experience. This course can be taken for 1-3 units of credit, and it may be repeated once, for a total of 6 units.
In consultation with the faculty-advisor, the student is responsible for finding an internship site and acquiring a position there. The position may be paid or unpaid, but the responsibilities of the position must ensure that the student will have the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge that 1) the student intends to use in a post-graduation career field and 2) are relevant to at least 3 of the Liberal Studies Essential Learning Outcomes.
Once the internship site is secured and approved, the course will require 1) a Letter of Intent, 2) Weekly Reflections, 3) a final essay (contextualizing the work experience in theory, research, or other relevant academic perspectives), and 4) an evaluation letter from the on-site supervisor. Hours spent on-site & writing requirement lengths are relative to units earned. For example, a 3-unit internship should require approximately 150 total hours (divided into the number of weeks of the internship), 4500 words of reflection writing (divided into the number of weeks of the internship), and an 1800+ word final essay.
Students are encouraged to pursue some form of travel study, and UWW offers many types of opportunities for these experiences. The Center for Global Education is a good resource, but there are also courses with travel components offered nearly every semester.