Morgan Kush, Assistant Director, Career Development Center
B.A., M.S. Ed., Youngstown State University
Web address: https://www.hiram.edu/connect/internships/
Hiram College is committed to experiential education. Through internships, students have opportunities for a variety of intensive learning and working situations to assist in their total educational and individual growth. These experiences are part of a career development process which helps students clarify values, develop skills, and set personal and academic goals. Through the academic program, Hiram College clearly defines knowledge, concepts, and competencies required for successful completion of a liberal arts education. Hiram College’s internship program permits students to bridge the distance between the theories they have learned in the classroom and the application of their knowledge. Further, the program enables students and the College itself to be aware of procedures, methodologies, systems, and techniques employed in working environments, and the ways these may influence contemporary liberal education.
Each academic program may offer field experiences and internships. Field experiences are designed for students to observe a work situation, and to contribute, when possible, to the functioning of the work environment. By working 40 to 80 hours at the cooperating institution, students may earn one to four semester hours of academic credit for the term in which they are enrolled. Internships are more intense and require the active involvement of the students in the work situation at the cooperating institution for a minimum of 120 hours. A maximum of eight semester hours of academic credit are given for the successful completion of the internship. The same four-credit internship with identical course content or placement may be taken only once. Students with exceptional circumstances and opportunities may petition the associate dean for an exception to this policy.
Many programs assist students in the placement process for the internship program. The programs establish prerequisites for the application procedure in setting class rank, grade-point requirements, and judgments regarding social and personal maturity. Prospective interns are required to have a faculty advisor who will monitor the experience, grade the academic requirements, and coordinate program efforts with the campus-wide program. Some internships, appropriate for liberal arts students, do not fall directly under the jurisdiction of one program. These opportunities are coordinated by the director of the Career Center who also helps students plan and prepare for their internship experience.