Purpose

The Internship Program is an integral component and extension of the academic offerings of the Department of Justice Administration. Designed to enhance a student's total academic experience through a planned program of observation, study, and participation in a selected criminal justice agency, the program should be viewed as the capstone to the student's academic experience. A primary purpose of this program is to broaden the educational experience of participating students by giving them an opportunity to work with practitioners. Specifically, the Internship Program is to be a meaningful experience for both the student and the agency, resulting in the student developing a greater understanding and appreciation for the administration of justice. Students will correlate theory and practice and be stimulated to challenge, examine, question and analyze those issues to which they are exposed. Students are afforded the opportunity to formalize career goals. The program also exposes students to the requirements of employing agencies and offering the opportunity to meet those requirements.

Course Description

An internship/practicum is a "field apprentice" course during which students work under supervision in a criminal justice, private security or other related agency or department in an agency and receive academic credit for their work. Written daily logs of activities and a written report of internship experiences is required.

Students may receive 3 to 6 hours of academic credit. One hundred twenty (120) hours of work within a supervising agency is required for 3 academic credit hours and two hundred forty (240) hours for the maximum of 6 academic credit hours. Undergraduate students will register for JA450--Internship and graduate students will register for JA690--Practicum.

Preference will be given to upper class and graduate students currently majoring in Justice Administration.

Prerequisite: Prior Permission of Chair or Internship Coordinator.

Goals/Objectives

A. To provide an opportunity to apply and evaluate academic experience in a professional field setting.

B. To provide an opportunity to explore possible career choices.

C. To provide an opportunity for gaining useful criminal justice experience, thus improving employment potential upon graduation.

D. To support and be closely related to classroom-based criminal justice courses and the professional demands of the job.

E. To provide a link between the academic and operational criminal justice communities for the purpose of improving knowledge and delivery of criminal justice services.

F. To provide new agency personnel an opportunity to interact with students who have devoted their college experience toward attaining a professional degree in justice administration.

Grades will be based on the following grading scale:

Course Requirements

Journals

Each participant is required to maintain a journal for this course. A blank journal form is included in the internship packet, and is also available online(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader). You should make sufficient copies from the original so you have one for each day of your internship. Each Monday (unless another day is arranged by mutual consent) students will turn in copies of journals for the previous week. A simple log of events accomplishes very little. Note the activity in general each day in the left-hand column, and put your own impressions in the right-hand column. What strikes you as different in the first few weeks? Things that struck you as curious or inefficient in the first two weeks often appear perfectly sensible after eight or ten weeks. This journal is personal, and you may be frank in your comments. (20% of final grade will be graded on timeliness, legibility, completeness.)

Objectives

Shortly after arrival to your assignment you will no doubt be exposed to an orientation period. During this first few days you will meet with your supervisor and get some help in developing your work objectives: What do you expect to learn, accomplish, and experience? By the end of the second week, and in no case later than three weeks, submit a page of Internship Objectives to the Internship Coordinator. Keep a copy for yourself. This document is not optional. (5% of final grade will be graded on quality, realistic expectations, timeliness.)

Resume

Completing a resume is one of the requirements of the course. Include your internship description in the resume. A sample resume (B-2.1), a list of actions verbs for use in resumes (B-2.2), a resume critique (B-2.3), and form for a cover letter (B-2.4) are included in the Internship Manual for your use. Your resume must be submitted with your Objectives. (5% of final grade will be graded on accuracy, innovation, neatness, timeliness.)

Final Paper

An outline for a final paper is also included in the Internship Manual. This is a guideline. Reflect on your original statement of objectives and comment on how they were or were not accomplished. This is an opportunity for you to consider the differences between the theoretical and the practical. You may wish to expand on why the differences exist and what can be done to bridge such a gap. There are no page limits, but the final paper, as well as the objectives, must be typed and in keeping with senior/graduate level work. The daily journals may be handwritten or printed, but should be legible. (70% of final grade will be graded on completeness, thoroughness, timeliness.)