Psychology

I/O Program Internship

Students enrolled in the I/O M.S. program, in addition to the core course work, are required to complete an internship which requires 300 clock hours of work. While the University offers many resources to guide students through the internship selection process, students must independently arrange and complete the internship during their enrollment as the university does not provide these placements. The student contacts and coordinates with a site representative from a potential internship location. Once they have agreed upon a tentative set of experiences or projects, in writing, students will present this to the faculty instructor for approval. Upon approval by the instructor, the student begins the internship. Students may develop and propose new internship sites, which may be approved by the faculty instructor.

Although we make every effort to facilitate the internship placement process, students are not guaranteed an internship assignment by merely interviewing with recommended sites. An internship is a job placement and it is ultimately the employer’s decision to hire. Therefore, students should be prepared to contact several sites and to be flexible, patient, and tenacious throughout the internship search process.

Evaluation

The internship evaluation includes the following:

1. An internship evaluation instrument is submitted by the student to the site supervisor for his/her evaluation every two weeks. The intern is responsible for forwarding these completed evaluations to the faculty instructor every two weeks during the internship.
2. A final internship evaluation is submitted by the site supervisor to the faculty supervisor upon completion of the internship.
3. The intern completes an internship evaluation paper at the completion of the internship.
4. Failure to submit evaluations or the final paper will prevent awarding of a grade for the internship.

For Employers

The WCU I/O Internship Program is credit-bearing academic course that requires students to complete 300 clock hours of work and participating employers/host organizations are expected to commit to the following:

• Assign a supervisor/mentor to the intern
• Develop a set of mutually agreed upon learning objectives for the student to achieve upon completion of the internship
• Provide the intern with an opportunity to gain practical work experience related to the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology
• Complete bi-weekly evaluations and one final evaluation of the intern upon completion of required internship hours

If you have an internship position to post, please contact Vipanchi Mishra with details about the internship or if you have any questions.

Check out our WCU I/O Consulting Services website for additional consulting and collaboration opportunities with faculty and students!