Internships

Management Department Internship Requirements

The Gettysburg College Management Department encourages students to participate in an internship. The internship allows the student to use what he or she has learned at the College in an external environment. It will allow the student to gain new insights into disciplines through working alongside individuals with experience in the particular field of interest.

An internship is a cooperative agreement between the employer, a college academic department and the Center for Career Engagement. The student does not directly receive academic credit for the internship, but rather receives credit for a subsequent project. The department’s view of an internship is that the student should first view it as an opportunity to learn and enhance his or her knowledge in the major or minor areas. That is its main value. The majority of internships sponsored by the department are partial credit. Occasionally, the department will sponsor a full-credit internship. These occur when the internship meets the learning goals of the department, incorporates a substantial independent research project, AND the student demonstrates a sincere interest in furthering his or her knowledge of a study area. These will be granted on a case by case basis.

The Department’s Business, Organization and Management major requires completion of a Critical Action Learning (CAL) component. One option (among several) for this requirement is an internship. The student may pursue an internship to meet this requirement after he or she has declared a Business, Organizations, and Management major. It is also possible for a Business, Organizations, and Management major or Business minor to pursue an internship that is not for the purpose of satisfying a CAL requirement

The process for procuring a position has several steps

  • Locate an employer that is offering an internship position. Students have several options, including friends, family, Management Department faculty, other faculty and staff as well as the Center for Career Engagement.
  • Find a faculty sponsor in the Management Department. Your faculty sponsor depends on your reason for the internship. If your internship is for purposes of the CAL requirement, your sponsor will be your Management faculty advisor. If it is not for a CAL requirement, you may seek out any sponsor from the department. Please understand that a faculty member is not obligated to sponsor a student for internships that are not satisfying the CAL requirement. Sponsorship will be based on the available time of the faculty person as well as the extent to which the faculty member feels that the internship qualifies as a legitimate experience representative of the Department. The sponsor will be responsible for informing the student of his or her responsibilities as well as monitoring the student’s progress during and after the internship. It is the faculty sponsor that approves the internship. The sponsor will need documentation from the employer as to the duties and responsibilities of the job. Do not proceed with the process until you have acquired a sponsor.
  • Complete a Learning Contract online through the Student Center. The contract will require employer information as well as learning goals and a description of duties. Since the faculty sponsor will approve the information, please be as thorough as possible. The employer will also need to provide information for the contract.
  • Successfully complete your internship. The internship requires 80 hours of work for the employer. Please present yourself in a professional manner keeping in mind that you are representing Gettysburg College. Your employer will provide an evaluation of our performance.
  • Meet with your sponsor. After completing your internship, you should meet with your sponsor during the first week of the semester following your internship. Your S/U grade will be applied to that semester. During your visit you will discuss your experience as well as review the expectations and requirements discussed when you initially met with your sponsor. Specific guidelines will be provided to students using the internship credit as their CAL experience. Please make sure you are clear on requirements and due dates.
  • Although the Management Department has uniform requirements, each faculty member has the discretion to enhance those requirements and vary due dates.

Internships Not Intended for CAL Requirements

If the internship is not intended to meet the CAL requirement, students must still complete an 8-10 page reflection paper. Upon successful completion, the student will receive a satisfactory grade for the internship. Please note that neither the reflection paper, nor the internship count towards one of the required 32 course credits for graduation.

Full Credit Internships

For full credit internships, the department requires, at a minimum, the following:

  • A weekly journal kept during the internship that relates to the student’s learning contract goals
  • A substantive research project resulting in a 20-25 page research paper with the topic at the discretion of the faculty sponsor, including an annotated bibliography shortly after meeting with your sponsor following the internship. The exact timeline will be at the discretion of the individual faculty members.

Credit for a full internship requires at least 160 hours of work. The Management Department will give preference to declared majors and minors. Because of the independent study nature of the internship process, all interns must have at least a 2.7 GPA. The declaration must have taken place before acquiring a faculty sponsor. Major or minor credit must be approved by the chairperson of the Management department. The internship must be in accordance with the spirit of the Management discipline for Business, Organizations, and Management credit and business for Business credit. If granted, the major or minor credit will not take the place of a specific required course, but towards an elective. Grading will be on the scale of A-F and not S/U.

Please contact the department CAL and Internship Coordinator, Professor Duane Bernard (dbernard@gettysburg.edu), for further inquiries.

Important Dates

The Center for Career development has established the following deadlines for the completion of “paperwork”, including the Learning Contract:

  • Summer – June 15
  • Academic year – add/drop dates for the particular semester
  • In the rare case of students obtaining a full credit internship, the deadline to obtain a faculty sponsor is April 30th.

Students are encouraged to complete the Learning Contract as soon as possible after acquiring a faculty sponsor.

The Management Department has established a firm deadline. Students must acquire their sponsor by the Friday of finals week for acquiring a sponsor for summer internships. It is not the responsibility of the department to provide a sponsor. Students are encouraged to complete the summer internship contract process before leaving college at the end of the spring semester. Faculty reserves the right to withdraw sponsorship if the contract is not completed within a week of sponsor acquisition.