Request for Proposal: Internship Sub-Committee
of Engaged Learning Stewardship Group
Contacts: Andrea Byrum, byrum@edgewood.edu 663-2261, or
Sara Hanson, sarahanson@edgewood.edu 663-2329
Intent to Submit: Thursday, April 2nd
Required Pre-proposal Meeting: TBD, between April 8th – 10th
Proposal Due Date: Wednesday, April 22nd
Announcement of accepted proposals will be made no later than May 1 st
The Internship/Field Experience Subcommittee of the Engaged Learning Stewardship Group is inviting
departments and programs to submit a proposal based on the requirements defined below. As the goal
of this proposal is to be broadly accessible across all schools, we invite smaller departments and
programs to seek out collaboration with each other. The expectation of each position would be
approximately 10-15 hours/week for building a program and eventually placing 15-20 students in an
internship program per semester over the term of the funding.
Specifically, the goal of internship/field experience is to increase the number and quality of available
internships, better support and streamline the efforts of faculty and staff to provide more intentional
career development programs for students, and build successful partnerships with employers.
WORKLOAD AND COMPENSATION
Over the next three years, the subcommittee recommends a pilot of the Department Career
Development Coordinator role (Job Description included). Three academic areas (singular departments
or departments who collaborate) would designate a faculty member or staff person in their area to
serve as a part-time coordinator for 2-3 years. There are funds available for each position to support the
work at the equivalent of six credit hours at $750 per credit for an academic year. Details of the
compensation will be worked out between the staff/faculty member and her/his supervisor/dean. The
Department Career Development Coordinator Position could begin the summer of 2014-15 or fall of
2015-16 and continue through the 2017-18 fiscal year.
The purpose of the pilot is to gather more detailed information about the different ways these roles can
be expressed, the actual number of hours and resources the role really requires to be successful, what
the application process needs to look like for other departments who want a coordinator, and what
tracking and assessment mechanism would be feasible and effective.
3-STEP PROCESS TO APPLY:
1. Submit a brief email indicating your name and the departments’ intent to apply to
Andrea Byrum (byrum@edgewood.edu) by Thursday, April 2nd. Please indicate who
would represent your team at a pre-proposal meeting.
2. Attendance is required at a pre-proposal meeting between April 8th – 10th. (Time and
location TBD.)
3. One of the Department Chairs completes and submits proposal electronically to Sara
Hanson (sarahanson@edgewood.edu), with other chairs copied on the proposal if more
than one department/program is involved, by 4:00pm on Wednesday, April 22nd.
Announcement of accepted proposals will be made no later than Friday, May 1 st.
DEPARTMENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR PROPOSAL INFORMATION
Proposal application information due April 22nd, 2015.
Please complete and submit the requested information listed below in your proposal:
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Department(s) Applying for Career Development Coordinator
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List of majors/minors offered in department(s)/program(s)
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Coordinator Information (if applicable):
Name:
Current Position (e.g., faculty, staff) and Title:
Education Level:
Supervisor:
Phone:
Email:
Please limit your responses to the following questions to 500 words or less per question:
1. Please describe the current status of career development/internship program in the
department(s):
2. Does your department offer an internship course?
a. If so, is the course required?
b. How many credits is the course?
c. How many students take the course per semester, including summer?
3. Why is your department(s) interested in participating in the Internship/Field Experience
Engaged Learning Initiative?
4. What is your department(s) goal(s) over the three years in collaboration with this initiative?
5. If there are multiple departments collaborating, please list:
6. Please describe the proposed coordinator’s experience or interest in working with students
on career development:
7. Please describe the proposed coordinator’s experience or interest in working with external
community partners:
8. Please list Department Chair(s) who are supporting proposal:
Position Title:
Department Career Development Coordinator
Position Code:
Dept/Office:
Reports To:
FLSA Status:
Non-Exempt
Date Updated:
3-16-2015
SUMMARY OF JOB SCOPE & RESPONSIBILITIES
The primary responsibility of this position is to deliver a comprehensive student internship service in
support of students’ educational, occupational and personal growth. Integration of academic-based
experiential learning activities into student career planning is an overarching goal of the position.
Responsibilities during the 3-year pilot program include:
 Collaborate with Career Services and academic departments to design, assess and implement
career development activities and processes within the department(s) and/or program(s), using
the developmental framework included in the request for proposal
 Act as the liaison between students, faculty and Career Services to foster additional studentemployer interactions such as job shadowing, informational interviews, mock interviews, alumni
presentations on campus, etc.
 Disseminate information to students, faculty and staff regarding the career development process
 Track and report internship data to Career Services each semester
 Participate in community of practice meetings with the Campus Internship Coordinator and other
Career Development Coordinators to discuss best practices and ensure ongoing communication
once per semester
 Advise students about career paths within specific majors
 Discuss internship/field experience opportunities with students, encouraging students to explore
options, timing, and develop preparation plans
 Help place students into matching internships/field experience opportunities
 Oversee internship/field experience taken for credit, including curricular requirements
 Cultivate and maintain employer relationships and professional partnerships
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
1. Work with students to discuss internship opportunities, foster student interactions with
employers and advise about career paths within majors: 40%
2. Partner with employers to place students into matching internship opportunities and
cultivate relationships with employers: 25%
3. Design, implement and assess career development activities and share information with
students, faculty and staff regarding the career development process; partner with other
Department Career Development Coordinators and Career Services in communities of
practice: 20%
4. Track, report and assess internship data, including curricular requirement: 15%
JOB QUALIFICATIONS (list as bullet points)
Necessary Education or Work Experience:
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Bachelor’s degree required; Masters preferred in Business, Communication or other
related field
Minimum two to three years professional experience working in a higher education
setting; academic department or advising/career counseling experience preferred
Required Knowledge and Skills:
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Ability to meet and work with higher education students
Strong organizational skills
Strong interest in student development and growth
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with faculty, staff, students and external
stakeholders
Ability and willingness to network with professionals in the community
Specialized Technology Skills:
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Proficiency with incorporating the use of technology to deliver internship coordination
services. Microsoft Office Suite proficiency expected, with training on other necessary
software.
Other Qualifications/Requirements:
Demonstrates multicultural competence – the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work
with others who are culturally different from self in meaningful, relevant, and productive ways. In
addition, the successful candidate must have a demonstrated desire to support the mission of
the college by working with faculty, staff and students to share in our core values - truth,
compassion, justice, partnership, and community.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative
of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this
job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to
perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is
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regularly required to sit;
frequently required to use keying skills, visual requirements associated with keying data,
often detailed and numeric;
to have the ability to interpret and respond to printed documentation;
to have the ability to communicate effectively on the telephone;
required to keep the noise level in the work environment to normal office conversation
to be available to travel to employers to do internship site visits
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being
performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of
all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE INTERNSHIP INITIATIVE
Edgewood College’s Academic Plan includes a priority (2.1) to “increase support for engaged learning
practices.” We have decided to focus on five main engaged learning practices: civic engagement, global
learning, multicultural learning, internship/field experience and student research with three overlaying
support areas of communication, faculty development, and tracking and assessment.
The recommendations for the internship/field experience area derive from a subcommittee made up of
faculty and staff who had substantial experience working with students around internships. The group
was tasked with developing recommendations for how Edgewood can support students’ career
development. Through their research (surveys, interviews, and conversations with faculty and staff;
surveys of students; benchmarking), the subcommittee discovered four key issues that Edgewood must
take into consideration:
Multiple Experiences: Faculty indicated that career development is much more than just one
internship/field experience. Career preparation is a developmental process that should occur over
time with multiple experiences that build in intensity and independence.
Preparation: Students need to be adequately prepared in advance of any field experience. If
students are not prepared, they will not get as much out of the experience as they could and may
even embarrass themselves, the faculty, and the institution.
Partnership Cultivation: Faculty and staff in the departments need to allocate significant time to
identifying and cultivating relationships with employers. High quality field experiences often require
a partnership between the employer and the faculty or staff member.
Internal Collaboration/Coordination: It takes more than one person or department to do this work
effectively. Clarity is needed on how the institution approaches career development for students,
who plays which roles in the development process, and collaboration among different players.
In terms of scope of impact for this initiative it is anticipated that:
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3 faculty or staff career development coordinators provide leadership for internships in an
academic area
Variable numbers of students, with a goal of increasing internships by 10% in the academic
areas with coordinators
Implementation of these initiatives will be coordinated by the continued existence of the Internship
Subcommittee. This structure will maximize success because the leadership of this group is shared
between academic and student affairs, has broad representation from across academic departments
and schools including areas that are already models for internship best practices, and devotes additional
personnel and compensation to advance initiatives.
The returns on investment for these initiatives are both to students as they develop skills for becoming
life-long learners, and to the institution in terms of faculty and staff development and community
partnerships.
By having the ability to participate in internship or field experiences, students will become more
prepared for employment in their field of study. This is accomplished by:
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Having more valuable internship and field experiences, and increased ability to network within
their fields
Developing the skills that are needed to manage a career and pursue goals; these skills need to
be continually cultivated throughout a career, and internships or field experiences give students
the ability to begin to cultivate the skills for personal and professional success
In addition, the College gains from investing in field and internship experiences by:
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Faculty and staff developing expertise in their fields to promote and guide a student’s career
development
Developing more expertise across campus for helping students find appropriate and meaningful
internship or field experiences
Cultivating more partnerships in the community for supporting internship and field experiences
Increasing the value and richness of our community partnerships so that more reciprocal
relationships develop with these community partners; students support the work of the partner
and community partners support the work of the College
EDGEWOOD COLLEGE OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Outcome 1: More formalized, intentional career development programs for students.
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Increase the number of departments/programs with an internship requirement, a course,
and/or an established community of experts
Increased number of graduates who have a job related to their field 6 months after graduation
Outcome 2: Increased number and quality of internships available.
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Increase by 10% the number of internships
Increased number of internships that rank 4 or above on employer/student surveys
Outcome 3: More tracking of internships.
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A tool and process is in place for annual reporting by departments and the institution as a whole
Thank you for your time, effort and interest in partnering with us in the internship/field experience
initiative.
Sincerely,
The Internship/Field Experience Sub-Committee of the Engaged Learning Stewardship Group
Andrea Byrum, Co-Director, Center for Global Education; Professor of Spanish, Foreign Language Dept.
Amy Gannon, Dean of the School of Business
Carrie Firman, Assistant Professor, Art Department
Sara Hanson, Campus Internship Coordinator, Career Services
Bonnie Sierlecki, Instructor, Communication Studies Department