Youngstown State University
Course Level: Undergraduate
| Internship Coordinator(s): | Dr. Donna M. DeBlasio, 531 DeBartolo Hall
Dr. Thomas E. Leary, 530 DeBartolo Hall 330-742-3457 |
HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM INTERNSHIP GUIDELINES
Purpose of Internship | Eligibility
for Internship | Finding an Internship
Application for Internships | Memorandum
of Agreement
Supervision and Responsibility | Agency
Responsibilities
YSU Supervisor Responsibilities | Intern
Responsibilities
Grading | Exemption
from Internships
Purpose of Internship
Internships are designed as the capstone requirement in the historic preservation program. They should provide an opportunity for the student to practice skills learned in course work and see how a historic preservation agency/project operates. Each intern should have a clearly designed project that he/she is responsible for completing by the end of the internship. This project may be designated by the agency or may be worked out between the intern and the agency if the agency has several possible projects. The project chosen must have some value to the agency and must provide an important learning experience for the student.
Internships last a minimum of 100 hours, so projects should be those that can be completed in that time period. Be reminded, however, that completion time for projects will often extend beyond the 100 hour minimum, and it will be necessary to put in additional time to see the project through to completion. Remember, the more time, effort, and responsibility put into an internship, the more attractive a student becomes to a potential employer.
Internships are not designed to provide students with "busy work" projects that the agency needs to have done. Interns are not secretaries or clerks. However, interns also need to recognize that all historic preservation professionals spend part of their time on bureaucratic paper work so they should accept what comes their way in the midst of a larger project.
Eligibility for Internship
Undergraduate students are eligible to enroll in the historic preservation internship (History 812) when they are of senior standing and have completed the Introduction to Historic Preservation (History 715) and one of the four remaining historic preservation courses: American Architectural History (History 808); Documentation and Interpretation of Historic Sites (History 809); Conservation of Historic Built Environment (History 810); or Practicum in Historic Preservation (History 811). Cultural Resource Management (Anthropology 812) can be substituted for History 809. All historic preservation courses must be completed with a C or better and may not be taken under the audit, credit/no-credit, traditional grade/no credit, or pass/fail options.
Students must be in good academic standing with Youngstown State University, i.e., having a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 for all courses taken at the undergraduate level and the approval of the historic preservation committee before the internship.
Finding an Internship
Students are responsible for finding their own internship and for making all necessary arrangements for transportation, housing, etc. The Youngstown State University Historic Preservation Program makes no guarantees that internships will be paid, although it encourages agencies whenever possible to pay interns. Youngstown State University does not provide support for transportation or housing costs associated with an internship. To allow us to provide on-site visits to the agency, the Youngstown State University Historic Preservation Program encourages internships to be with agencies within a 200-mile radius of Youngstown. However, the program recognizes that attractive internship possibilities may exist elsewhere, and exceptions can be made on a case by case basis.
Students are to search for internships with agencies that provide qualified professional supervision. Internships may not be taken with volunteer organizations where the student, in effect, is the sole professional. Students should feel free to consult with the faculty in the historic preservation program to see what internships may be available at the time or to help find agencies that may be interested in establishing internships. After the student has made the initial contact with the agency, a faculty supervisor will make a follow-up phone call and or visit to introduce himself/herself and discuss Youngstown State University's Historic Preservation Program's responsibility for internship supervision.
Students should have a typed resume to provide to the agency during the initial contact. Students should also provide information about Youngstown State University's Historic Preservation Program and an internship evaluation form to the agency.
Application for Internships
With proper planning and communication with the historic preservation program faculty, students should have no difficulty in developing and completing successful internships. Students should begin looking for internship possibilities at least two quarters prior to the quarter in which the internship is to be completed. During this period, students should work closely with the historic preservation faculty to ensure the development of a quality internship. Once an internship has been secured students must formally apply for an internship by submitting to the preservation faculty a letter of application stating the internship to be pursued and outlining the specific task(s) to be completed during the internship. The historic preservation faculty will then notify the student in writing that he/she has been accepted for the internship.
In the event that the historic preservation faculty reject an internship request, the student will be notified in writing and a meeting scheduled between the student and historic preservation faculty to discuss possible alternatives.
Memorandum of Agreement
The memorandum of agreement must explicitly state what the student will do for the internship and when the work is to be completed. The student and the agency supervisor need to set realistic deadlines for this work; if the agency allows the student to complete the work when he/she returns to campus, set a realistic date to finish. If the student cannot meet the deadline for legitimate reasons, i.e. illness or suddenly getting a job that requires relocation, the student is responsible for revising the memorandum of agreement deadline with the consultation of the agency supervisor and the preservation faculty overseeing the internship prior to the deadline stated in the original contract. No more than one postponement will be allowed, so again, deadlines should be realistic. Under no circumstances can a student graduate with the certificate in historic preservation until the internship has been completed and the student has received a grade for the internship.
The memorandum of agreement must also have an attached bibliography of at least ten sources the student will use during the internship. These may include subject texts and technical works. Students are responsible for compiling the appropriate bibliographies for their projects and may seek advice from historic preservation faculty or agency supervisors for suggested readings.
It is the student's responsibility to see that the memorandum of agreement is completed before the internship begins. Ideally, this should be well underway when the student applies for the internship so that the historic preservation faculty knows precisely what the student will be doing. In the rare instance where it is not possible to have the memorandum of agreement signed by all parties before the internship begins, this must be taken care of within the first week of the internship and returned to the preservation faculty overseeing the internship.
Supervision and Responsibility
Internship supervision takes place at two levels -- the agency and the Youngstown State University Historic Preservation Program.
Agency Responsibilities for Interns
Since the internship's purpose is to allow students the opportunity to work as professional historic preservationists, we ask that the agency appoint a supervisor who has the expertise to supervise the project the student is preparing. At a minimum, the supervisor should know the agency well enough to be able to show the student resources available at the agency, introduce him or her to others at the agency who may be of help, etc. The supervisor should also clearly have more experience and expertise than the intern.
The agency should provide the student with adequate work space, supplies, access to a telephone, and any other resources needed to complete the internship project. Depending on resources available at the agency, this may include secretarial support or access to a computer so that the student can prepare the final project at the agency.
If travel is needed for the internship, the agency should pay mileage for travel needed to complete the project (not for travel to and from the internship site from home); this can take the form of mileage reimbursement for the student to use his/her car or use of an agency car.
The agency supervisor should regularly monitor the intern's work and provide feedback as needed to make sure the project is progressing as needed for the agency. Daily contacts are not necessary, but weekly or biweekly meetings are important. If the supervisor will be out of the office for an extended period of time, someone else in the office should be designated to supervise the intern during the interim.
The agency should see that the student gets to experience as much of the total agency as possible. If possible, the intern should be invited to sit in on staff meetings, particularly if the topic under discussion affects his or her project.
The agency supervisor should assign a grade for the final project and complete the evaluation form on the intern. Please review the completed evaluation form with the intern, as he/she will receive a copy of the completed form.
The agency supervisor should feel free to contact the Youngstown State University supervisor at any time if problems arise.
Youngstown State University Supervisor Responsibilities
The Youngstown State University historic preservation faculty will select a faculty supervisor who can best supervise each internship. Any of the historic preservation faculty may handle this responsibility.
The faculty member will ensure that the internship memorandum of agreement is approved within a reasonable period of time and that the student receives written notice of that decision.
The faculty member will contact the agency supervisor and make certain everyone understands the memorandum of agreement and evaluation form.
The faculty member will visit the agency during the course of the internship. Meetings are held with the agency supervisor, intern, and Youngstown State University faculty member twice during the course of the internship. If we do not personally know the agency supervisor, the Youngstown State University faculty supervisor will visit the agency prior to the student being on site. A follow-up visit in the middle of the internship and perhaps one at the end are useful in maintaining contacts and forestalling any problems. If the student is working at Youngstown State University on an internship, the faculty supervisor and the agency supervisor may be the same person.
The faculty member will be available for phone consultations as needed with the intern and agency supervisor during the course of the internship.
The Youngstown State University Historic Preservation Program will keep a copy of the internship project in its files if this is feasible; at the minimum, the Youngstown State University Historic Preservation Program will keep a copy of any written work that comes out of the project at the Program's expense.
Intern Responsibilities
The intern is responsible for establishing the internship and seeing that the learning contract is submitted on time.
The intern must arrange for housing and transportation for the internship as needed.
The intern is responsible for maintaining contact with the agency supervisor and Youngstown State University supervisor.
The intern is responsible for arranging for visits by the Youngstown State University supervisor. If the supervisor has not been to the agency before, the intern should arrange a tour of the facilities for the Youngstown State University supervisor. During this initial visit a meeting of the intern and the two supervisors should be scheduled to discuss the intern's project, update the Youngstown State University supervisor, and work out any problems that may arise.
The intern is responsible for completing assignments neatly, accurately, and on time.
The intern should dress appropriately for the position. Take cues from the agency supervisor or other professionals in the office.
Interns are employees of the agency for the duration of the internship, even if they are not paid for their work. Therefore, they must follow agency policies on starting times, quitting times, lunch hours and breaks, weekend and evening work, as appropriate.
While the intern should be able to complete his or her project within the allotted time for the internship, it may be necessary to spend extra hours to get it done on time. If the extra hours get excessive or if the intern feels the project is becoming too big to handle realistically, the intern should speak to the agency and Youngstown State University supervisors as soon as he or she senses the project is too large.
Grading
Students are required to maintain a weekly internship log that will count for ten percent of their final grade. Students are also required to write a final evaluation paper of approximately of 5-10 pages in length that will count for ten percent of the final grade. The major project submitted to the agency will count for seventy percent of the final grade. The final ten percent will consist of a grade given by the agency for the student's attitude, general cooperation with other projects, and all the intangibles that go with working as a professional in a history agency.
The agency supervisor will be asked to provide a grade on the student's project and a separate grade on the attitude category. The Youngstown State University faculty supervisor will grade the log and evaluation paper and provide the final grade. If the faculty supervisor feels the grades provided by the agency are unreasonable for some reason, i.e. personality conflicts that led to a poor "attitudes" grade or unreasonable standards for the final project, he or she will discuss the grades with the agency supervisor to work out a compromise. The agency has every right to ask the student to redo the final project to an "A" quality project if the agency supervisor does not fell the intern turned in that level of work initially. This revision may need to be done on the student's own time and with his or her own resources. The internship will not be considered complete, nor a grade submitted for the student, until the agency supervisor is satisfied with the quality of work submitted.
The final evaluation paper will be approximately 5-10 pages in length and will be an in-depth evaluation of the internship. It will be read only by the historic preservation faculty, not the agency, so the intern may be as candid as he/she wishes to be about what went well and what did not. The paper is not simply to be a rewrite of the daily log but is to state what the student did during the internship (in general terms), what the internship project was, where that project fit in the operations of the agency and how it will be used, what went well, and problems that developed and how they were resolved. This should be a thoughtful evaluation.
The paper will be graded for its organization and its writing style. Poorly written papers or papers that do not reflect thoughtful evaluation will be returned and are to be rewritten until they are acceptable. The evaluation paper will be due at the date specified on the memorandum of agreement, unless the faculty supervisor and intern agree on a later date after the contract is signed. The final paper must be typed and double-spaced.
Exemption from Internships
A student in the historic preservation program may be exempted from the internship by petition to the Historic Preservation Committee. This will be granted only if the student has extensive historic preservation/public history experience in a paid professional position. Students seeking an exemption should provide a resume of their experience and a letter outlining their responsibilities in paid historic preservation positions. If granted, the Historic Preservation Committee will notify the student in writing, with a copy of the letter placed in the student's program file. All decisions made by the Historic Preservation Committee concerning exemptions are final. Students exempted from the internship still need to complete the required number of hours for their degree.
Back
