Earn course credit

Students can do internships on their own or they can apply to get course credit. The procedures and deadlines below only apply to for-credit internships. The School of Communication now has a digital application process to streamline and track paperwork, making it easier and quicker for students, faculty and internship providers who’ve already hired one of our students.

Procedure for course credit:

1. Find an internship & get hired (paid or not).
2. Discuss how much you’ll work with your internship provider. (If for credit, know that 50 hours worked = 1 credit hour you can register for in 208/408.)
3. Complete a NAU School of Communication Internship Contract Application (Fill it out completely, sign it, then get your internship provider and a faculty member in your major to sign off on it)
4. Submit your contract and unofficial transcripts online to COM_Internships@nau.edu
5. If it is approved, then the internship coordinator contacts the internship provider and gives them paperwork to become a NAU affiliate. They have to agree or the internship isn’t allowed to be one that you can take the 208/408 course for, so you can’t earn credit if they don’t become an affiliate. We’ve never had anyone not agree to become an affiliate, so don’t stress on this part.
6. Once we have that paperwork, your contract goes to the director to sign off on.
7. If you’re approved, the School of Com sends you a permission number to enroll in the 208 or 408 class.
8. Once enrolled and the semester begins, there are assignments to complete online that correspond to the work you’re doing at your internship. You set goals, track hours worked each week, evaluate and reflect on the internship and both you and the intern provider do midpoint and end of term evaluations.

Things to remember:

• The dates on your contract should be for a 15 week semester (or 12 in the summer). 
• You must plan to work 50 hours per credit hour. (So, for a 3 credit hour class that is a total of 150 hours or a 10 hr/wk position over the 15-week semester.)
• Internships that want the students to basically work a job for free are not allowed for course credit. Mentorship is an essential part of an internship.
• Students must get some sort of career mentorship in a position related to their major/minor or the COM department to earn credit for the internship with any of the School of Com major prefixes.
• Additionally, VC students must have an internship supervisor that has experience in design. They don’t have to have a degree in it, but their education must at least be in a related field, like PR, Advertising, Marketing, etc.
• Students are in these opportunities to learn, so if they don’t have a supervisor that can give knowledgeable feedback or art direction, it’s not credit worthy.