The History Department encourages serious and disciplined history majors and minors to participate in internships, which are well-designed and academically beneficial. The department will sponsor one internship per student. An internship will be counted as a 3 credit-hour history course (HIST 350I).
All approved internships must:
- include at least 120 hours at the internship site;
- offer theoretical as well as practical learning;
- be sponsored by the History Department resident faculty member serving as internship liaison (if s/he is off duty, the department chair will be a contact person), who will be the evaluator of the academic component of an internship;
- be approved by the History Department chair;
- be supervised by a qualified onsite supervisor. The evaluator must have an M.A. or Ph.D. degree in history or social sciences;
- the student must have completed INFS 115, 315, or 316; and be graded on an S/N basis only.
Student Learning Outcomes
All internships must offer students the opportunity to learn;
- the role and function of the internship site in the community;
- the student’ role in the internship site setting;
- how certain documents and materials are stored; and be able to:
- successfully perform internship responsibilities;
- locate primary sources accessible in the internship site;
- develop a research project utilizing primary sources;
- situate your research in a larger context using secondary sources;
- analyze primary and secondary materials;
- write a history paper
Department Approval Process
Students are required to submit an internship proposal including the following information to the department chair.
- Department internship liaison’s name
- A copy of a completed Academic Internship Agreement form
- Possible primary sources to write a research paper (You need to obtain and attach a letter from your on-site supervisor confirming the existence and availability of such primary sources to you during the internship period.)
- A research topic
An internship period must correspond to Metropolitan State University’s academic semester for registration reasons. An internship needs to be arranged between the student and the on-site supervisor and approved by the department chair prior to the beginning of the semester in which a student intends to register.
The department chair will approve proposals with strong academic contents and a feasible completion schedule within a semester only. Note that the History Department does not accommodate alternative learning strategies schedule.
Upon approval, secure a dated signature from the department chair and ask him/her to send a copy to the History Department Faculty Internship Liaison.
University Approval Process
- Students complete the Academic Internship Agreement online, including sign-off approval by the onsite supervisor/evaluator, and submit it to the Career Center via email at Internships@metrostate.edu. The Career Center staff will secure the History Department internship liaison’s signature. (The liaison will sign only if an approved proposal for the student is on file.) The university approval process takes approximately two weeks (longer during summer months and semester breaks) after the student submits the Academic Internship Agreement to the Career Center. The internship must be approved before the start of the internship.
- The student cannot be related to the onsite supervisor/evaluator or the university faculty liaison.
- A student can do only one internship at a site.
Evaluation Process
- The Practical Component of the student’s internship will be evaluated by the onsite supervisor. The onsite supervisor must submit a brief report if the student has executed assigned tasks on the site competently to the history department faculty liaison. (In history internships, the onsite supervisor will not submit the student’s grade to the university directly.) This report must be received by the history department faculty liaison by the end of the 14th week. The student is responsible for the timely delivery and receipt of the onsite evaluation by the History Department Faculty Liaison. Problems reported to the Metropolitan State’s internships coordinator, the Department Faculty Liaison or the Department Chair by your on-site supervisor may result in a grade of NS.
- The Academic Component of the student’s internship will be evaluated by the History Department Faculty Liaison. The student is required to write a research paper based on primary sources available at the internship site (at least 10 pages long, excluding a cover page, endnotes and bibliography) with an appropriate topic in history. The paper must be submitted to the liaison by the end of the 14th week.
- If the liaison has received a positive evaluation from the onsite supervisor on time and the student’s paper is satisfactory, the liaison will submit a grade of S to Metropolitan State’s Grades Department before the grade submission deadline for that semester. Otherwise, the student will receive NS automatically.