The African American Studies Internship

AFA 4905

Course coordinator: Sharon Austin, Director of the African American Studies Program, 104 Walker Hall, 352-392-3060, [email protected]

Course Description:

Undergraduate students can receive three hours of credit for an African American Studies internship under the circumstances below. Students are responsible for finding their own internships. The program recommends that students utilize the resources at the career resource center and that they inquire about internship opportunities from their professors.

Course Objective:

In the African American Studies Program, we encourage students to complete internships with companies, individuals, institutions, or organizations whose work adds to the knowledge and well-being of the African American community. Possible internships may include internships with elected officials who serve African American constituents, research centers that study African American issues, museums that emphasize African American artifacts, etc.

General Course Requirements:

1) The internships must occur at organizations or businesses that focus on persons of African descent.

2) The internship must be approved by an African American Studies faculty member who agrees to supervise the student intern’s work and writing requirements and by the program director. After obtaining an internship, students must complete the AFA internship form that describes their duties and responsibilities, the site of the internship, the signature of the intern’s supervisor at the intern site, a signature of an AFA faculty member and of the AFA director.

3) The student must have completed satisfactorily the AFA 2000 (Introduction to African American Studies) course and at least two 3000-level AFA courses.

4) The student must be majoring or minoring in African American Studies.

5) The student must be a sophomore, junior, or senior.

6) The attached forms must be submitted before and after the internship. The Work Requirements

Typically, three credits for an internship corresponds to approximately 9 hours per week at the internship for a total of approximately 145 hours per semester. Therefore, in order to earn three hours of credit, students must devote at least 9 hours of work per week at their internships site. They must work one month for each credit earned and receive no more than three hours of internship credit during their undergraduate years.

Student interns must submit a weekly journal to the professor supervising their internship. The student must discuss the duties that they carried out during the week and the relevance of these duties for American American Studies.

After the internship is completed, submit a 15-20 page typed, double-spaced report explaining the significance of the internship for their personal development and its relevance to the discipline of African American Studies. It is expected that the intern will provide an analysis of relevant black studies scholarly writings (books and articles) in this paper.

Grading Scale:

A 93-100, A- 90-92, B+ 87-89, B 83-86, B- 80-82, C+ 77-79, C 73-76, C- 70-72, D+ 68-70, D 63-67, D- 60-92, E 59 and below

Only a faculty member may assign grades, but an internship supervisor may provide feedback. All requirements must be met by the end of the summer or semester-long internships so that the faculty member will have adequate time to grade the written assignments and submit grades before the university’s grading deadlines. For information on the grading scale, see either HTTP://www.isis.ufl.edu/minusgrades.html or HTTP://registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html.

Your grade will be based on:

Journals 60%

Internship Report 40%

The Honor Code:

On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: "On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment." For more information, see HTTP://www.dso.ufl.edu/SCCR/honorcodes/honorcode.php.

Missed Work: Students will be allowed to make up missed work in the event of medical and other emergencies if the student(s) produces a valid doctor's statement or other documentation.

Disabilities Statement:

Students requiring accommodations must first register with the Dean of Student’s office, Disability Resource Center. The Dean of Student’s office will provide documentation, which the student will then give to the instructor. For more information, see HTTP://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM Internship Application Form

NAME:______ID NO:______

Please check below to indicate that:

( ) I am an African American Studies Program Minor.

( ) I am a _____sophomore ____junior ____senior.

I have completed the following courses:

( ) AFS 2000 - Introduction to African American Studies ( ) Two 3000 level AFA courses. ( ) I have not previously received credit for an AFA internship .

The student named above has been approved to participate in an internship.

Signature of AFA Faculty Member

Signature of Program Director

Description of Internship:

Supervisor’s Name and Contact Information:

Department(s) where you will be working: Address:

City State Zip Code

Telephone Number:

The student named above has arranged for me to provide direct supervision of the project herein described.

Signature of Site Supervisor

Semester and Year: ______Number of hours per week: ______PROGRAM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES FINAL INTERNSHIP EVALUATION

Name of intern: ______

Internship site: ______Evaluator: ______

Indicate on the scale below your evaluation of your intern during his/her summer/semester of working with you.

On a scale of 1-5 with the numbers representing 1 (unsatisfactory) 2 (poor) 3 (average) 4 (above average) 5 (exceptional) Please explain your rating

Promptness

Maturity

Interest in job and issues of concern to the African American community

Ability to organize tasks

Ability to work with others

Ability to work independently

Ability to work under pressure

Contribution to the Organization

Acceptance and constructive use of criticism

1. What do you consider the intern’s most significant strengths and weaknesses?