Internship Program Structures for On-Campus Partnerships 160

In the final section of this chapter, I will reflect on my experiences as an internship mentor and discuss what structures I found particularly helpful, as well as assignments that worked well for student interns at SAMLA and South Atlantic Review (SAR) in an effort to continue the identification of effective practices by internship mentors, faculty members, and student interns. As explained earlier in this project, I served as the day-to-day supervisor of undergraduate interns for several years in my role as the Associate Director of SAMLA and the Managing Editor of SAR. One of the challenges I found as an internship mentor was how to complete job duties while providing adequate guidance and supervision to interns. My approach to this situation was to establish communication expectations and parameters at the start of the semester. First, I explained to the interns in an initial group meeting that if there were attendance concerns, an email was my preferred mode of communication. I also asked that they not call or text if they were running just a few minutes late; instead, I suggested they simply adjust their time in the office accordingly. Second, I gave them my work schedule and advised that the best time to get my undivided attention was either early in the morning (before 9:00 a.m.) or during a

meeting arranged for a specific time or concern. I wanted to make myself as available as possible, but with nearly twenty individuals in the office during certain periods, I wanted to make sure they knew the best ways for us to carve out time together. Third, I divided interns into small groups and set up weekly meetings that I attended or were led by other staff members. I found this very effective to establish some parameters for completing my work and still supporting intern needs.

To maintain their work materials, we set up notebooks for the interns, which were kept on a central bookcase in our office space. I and other staff members would return feedback and leave notes in the notebooks for the interns. Having their projects maintained in one place was also helpful to the office staff, as sometimes we would need materials when the interns were not in the office. This also gave the students a collection of deliverables for their final report. Finally, I also had interns working closely either in pairs or with other staff members and graduate

research assistants. From the start of the internship, the students had a clear understanding of their projects and what to do if they had questions or needed additional projects. During the weekly meetings, they often learned of other projects that might be of interest to them as well.

My interactions with GSU faculty members about students usually followed the initial internship interview and meeting to prepare the English 4500 internship proposal form. I would complete the internship proposal with the student and forward it to the faculty member

overseeing the internship course. On occasion, I would talk with the faculty member at the midpoint of the semester, but I usually reserved substantive communication for the end of the semester. Instead of simply sending a written assessment at the end of the semester, I often tried to meet with the faculty member in person to talk about the internship experiences and seek her guidance about future projects and ways our organization could serve GSU and the interns.

These conversations were very valuable to me as an internship mentor as I gained a better understanding of the vision of the program and what was needed from mentors. The faculty member also suggested projects that interns could assist with in the future.

The projects that I found especially beneficial for students working for SAR related to attendance at editorial meetings; writing of editorial team meeting agenda and minutes; editing of works cited focusing on MLA formatting; verification of quotes; and email communication from standard forms. Student interns performed their assignments in the editorial office where other editors and interns worked. I think this was helpful for them to gain an understanding of the publication of an academic journal. I also often asked students to review old issues of journals, edit biographical sketches, and review manuscripts. What was not effective was asking students to be responsible for substantive editing of journal articles. While we had some outstanding college writers as interns, they were not sufficiently experienced to copyedit or proofread full- length articles written by professors in a range of disciplines. Nonetheless, I encouraged students to read the manuscripts, to complete internal editorial review forms, and to identify mechanical editing concerns. These experiences gave students an idea of how editorial work is conducted. I would give them feedback on their editing work and written critiques. The editors and I often referred to their edits during the copyediting process, but the goal was to give them exposure to editing practices and scholarly writing.

In contrast, the internship opportunities for those working for SAMLA varied from semester to semester. As one facet of the organization’s work was the planning of an annual conference, often we looked to student interns to prepare initial drafts of PowerPoint

presentations for the award ceremonies and scripts for the presenters. I encouraged students to make multiple PowerPoint presentations so that we had examples to choose from and revise.

Many students enjoyed the layout and design work that came with publicity materials. Other students jumped at the chance to write newsletter articles and develop web content. The contributions of the students often led to finalized products; however, the work still required revision, redevelopment, and editing by staff members. Because I did not want students to be producing work that might violate the FLSA, I encouraged interns to explore and learn about the projects they were working on, rather than focus on creating products that we necessarily would use. In addition, during our weekly meetings, I would share student deliverables with other interns and praise their excellent work. I would also lead discussions about how our staff would build upon the projects before final publication or distribution. This provided such an effective small group teaching model for the interns and for our organization.

I, like Ms. Lane, have significant experience working with college-aged students both at GSU and in industry. I also am aware of what I might expect from them as interns and the kind of training often required for those new to an organization. SAMLA’s leadership saw interns largely as an extension of our mission, given that the organization serves the academic community. We wanted to serve the GSU community, where our office resided, and offer opportunities for humanities students to see the value of their majors in a workplace. Our internship program allowed us to do this; in addition, we had the chance to work with some outstanding students and partner with them to create wonderful projects. We were able to manage the large number of interns because the GSU faculty members gave us support without burdening us with a great deal of reporting and communication demands. Our organizational practices and communication practices for interns allowed them to explore the activities of a non-profit and contribute to projects. Our structures also provided sufficient time for staff members to work independently and alongside of interns.

As I look to the final chapter of this project, I will articulate an approach for internship program designers to explore their own programs and develop essential frameworks to support student interns. The work in in Chapter Five to build upon information learned through

interviews with faculty members and internship mentors confirmed that GSU’s internship course design adhered to many of the established practices of other programs. At the same time, the lack of literature about internship programs for English majors revealed the value of these interviews and the contributions this research will add to the broader discussions about how to structure internships, especially when faculty members have limited time to meet with student interns and internship mentors throughout the course of a semester. GSU’s student-focused internship program and the practical and thoughtful leadership of its program directors provide an