The Career and Internship Center at NVU-Johnson took a hit this semester with the resignation of Ellen Hill, Northern Vermont University- Johnson’s internship coordinator.
This has resulted in changes to how the program will work going forward, as many students are required to have an internship completed as a graduation requirement. “We’re just starting to think about what this is going to look like moving forward,” Provost Nolan Atkins said of the current vision for the new program. “We’re looking at models that other schools are employing, and there’s a couple out there that we really like that we’re starting to think about, and how we might be able to incorporate those models into this new vision.”
Previously, a student would work with a faculty supervisor in their major to find a suitable location and design a list of goal-based outcomes that they were hoping to achieve through the internship.
Working in tandem with Hill, the internship site supervisor and the faculty supervisor, the student would then draw up a contract for the internship and sign it, after which Hill would sign off on the contract and send it to the Provost’s office. However, without that middle link, much of the effort of finding an internship and getting the paperwork in order is falling back on the students and their advisors.
Atkins said that the current method of approving contracts is now overseen by his office. The students will work with their faculty advisors and then submit the paperwork directly to the provost’s office for approval.
At present, there are some departments that will be more affected than others. The Psychology Department has concerns that the lack of a go-between will make it harder for them to manage the large number of internships they have to process.
“Psychology is the largest major on campus, yet with only two full-time faculty members, we do not have the faculty resources to oversee the individual internship needs of students and their various internship sites,” said Behavioral Sciences Department Co-Chair Gina Mireault. “Therefore, Ellen played a critical role in helping students design, secure, and then navigate the internship process.”
For now, the department has a temporary measure in place.
“Fortunately, Ted Thorndike – the faculty supervisor for NVU-Online – has agreed to step in and take over Ellen’s role in her absence,” said Mireault.
The Mathematics Department on the other hand, doesn’t see a lot of internships.
“We have only done a couple of internships in Math. Greg Petrics handled them,” Chair Julie Theoret said, though she points out that interdisciplinary majors had a much larger need for internships, and that Hill was the main facilitator for those students.
Originally, the office of Careers and Internships was run by Hill and her counterpart Beth Walsh, the director of career development, who is still working in her position to give students guidance about their future in the job world.
“I am not taking over the internship process now that Ellen Hill has moved onto her new position… I continue to encourage students to do at least one (or more) internship(s) and help with the search, the resume, and interview preparation,” wrote Walsh when asked if her role in the office was likely to change in light of the staffing shakeup.
Currently, there are no plans to replace Hill’s position, acknowledged Provost Atkins.
For students who may have questions in the interim, there is a repository for much of the information that Hill gathered and provided to students during their internship process. The FAQ document is located on the Northern Vermont University website under the internship section and provides an in-depth list of topics and questions that Hill said she ran into over the years.
As with many other facets of NVU-Johnson this fall, the state of the internship program is in flux, though faculty and staff will begin working to come up with innovative solutions to get their students the best possible academic experience that they can when it comes to securing such a position.
In the future, it is the university’s goal to build up paid internships as a method of learning and easing the financial burden of a college education.