Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

PART II SECTION 7

INTERNSHIPS/WORK EXPERIENCE

Appendix: Internship policy/forms; Tehama Group Sacramento Bee column; Orion award listing

1. Describe the structure and methods used to select cooperating employers and to supervise, evaluate and grade internships and work experience programs.

For journalism majors at California State University, Chico, internships are a learning experience designed to further develop the many skills used in professional journalism and public relations work.

Students work an average of eight hours per week during the regular semester, and during summer sessions they may work up to full-time for as many as 12 weeks. Students may earn one graded unit for an internship. Internship units may count toward the major.

Employers are given the option of providing a stipend, scholarship or hourly pay. Some do support the student in this fashion, some do not.

The faculty member who is assigned to be internship coordinator maintains a comprehensive database listing of placements for students to review. Professional media organizations are placed on the list after providing a specific job description itemizing the responsibilities of the intern and method of supervision. Faculty members post internship fliers and announce them in classes.

Before applying for an internship, students must meet the following requirements:

-All applicants must have a 3.0 GPA in their major (including the core courses). (On occasion, when a student has close to a 3.0 GPA and demonstrates exceptional

professional promise, an internship interview may be arranged.)

-Applicants must receive two favorable recommendations from journalism faculty. -News-editorial students must have completed Journalism 60 and present at least two

published stories.

-Public relations students must have completed Journalism 155 (with special permission

and faculty recommendation, Journalism 141).

Once students are assigned to an internship, they must:

-Write a progress report, including work samples, that is sent to the intern coordinator at the end of each week. The report is reviewed by the coordinator who checks for progress and potential problems. Contact is made with the student and supervisor if necessary to troubleshoot a specific problem.

-Be enrolled in 1 unit of Journalism 289 Internship during fall or spring semester, or

during summer.

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

Intern supervisors and interns are either visited in person during the semester or, depending on the availability of travel funds, interviewed by telephone. Supervisors are asked about the intern's performance, reliability, professionalism and contributions. Upon completion of the internship, on-site supervisors participate in the evaluation of interns by completing a questionnaire and providing anecdotal information.

The final progress report written by students reveals their overall satisfaction with the placement and often serves as a guide for subsequent intern assignments. In evaluating intern performance, the faculty coordinator looks for evidence of good writing, initiative, professionalism, reliability and overall contributions to the organization. When all reports are filed and the term's progress reports are evaluated in total, a letter grade of A through F is assigned.

Internships that take place during fall or spring semesters usually involve placements with local media companies such as the Chico News & Review or the Chico Chamber of Commerce. The proximity of those placements allows for frequent informal contact with students and supervisors beyond the required reporting mentioned above. This communication enables closer supervision and adjustment to the internship experience if necessary. When an internship fails to meet minimum expectations it is removed from the program.

Internships are highly regarded by students and increasing numbers of them are seeking placements. The vast majority of journalism internships are taken during the summer, in part because students recognize the value of The Orion and Tehama Group Communications experiences during the fall and spring semesters. As would be expected, interns experience varying levels of responsibilities and success based on their own abilities and the challenges provided by the placement. Often students find continuing employment with their internship organization or are able to network for subsequent job interviews.

The last visiting accreditation evaluation team concluded the following in its 1997 report: "News-Editorial internships at present rely substantially on the students' initiative to find since so many are non-residents of the Chico area and the opportunities for News

Editorial internships there are few." Since then, more faculty time has been dedicated to working with the newspaper industry and connecting students with internship opportunities. While growing numbers of news-editorial students are obtaining more and better paid internships, relatively few formally enroll in Journalism 289 during the summer due to the enrollment cost. One example of the department's tremendous progress in helping students obtain meaningful news-ed internships is that a CSU, Chico student has obtained a 12-week internship each summer since 2001 at The Sacramento Bee. The Bee is the region's leading newspaper and each year receives several hundred applications from throughout the nation for a handful of internships. The department has also made creative use of its annual Scripps-Howard Foundation internship grant to work with newspapers and literally create internships that would otherwise not have existed. Partial evidence of the growing esteem in which CSU, Chico's news-ed students are held

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

is that The Sacramento Bee's internship director began in 2002 making an all-day fall visit to the Chico campus to meet individually with prospective internship candidates.

Every journalism major with a public relations option participates in at least one internship before graduation. In the last three years, faculty members have expanded the functional breadth and geographic reach for internship participants. In addition to internships in Chico, for example, strategic outreach efforts have resulted in internship opportunities in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco.

Journalism 245B students now perform work for local, regional and national-in-scope clients. Students obtain first-hand experience in a variety of public relations disciplines that would normally not be available in a traditional classroom setting. The International Association of Business Communicators has recognized the department's emphasis on internships by featuring two articles on its new student Web site. One article written by a Chico student featured her experiences as an intern with the Oakland Raiders. The second article discussed the importance of integrating classroom theory into the real world, and was written by the professor who teaches Journalism 245B.

Students who are accepted into Tehama Group Communications, the department's student-managed public relations agency, have the opportunity to participate in diverse public relations activities, several of which are national in scope. Many return for second and third semesters to serve as agency managers.

Most news-editorial students consider The Orion, a nationally acclaimed student newspaper, a key component of their educational experience. A majority of news-ed majors choose to work on The Orion for more than one semester, and some stay for four or five semesters. The current managing editor is in her seventh semester on The Orion. The return rate is an indication of how much the students value the experience since only minimal academic credit and compensation is provided.

PUBLIC RELATIONS INTERNSHIPS

OUT-OF-TOWN

Applied Communications

San Francisco, CA

California State Senate Senator Tom Torlakson

Sacramento, CA

California City Schools Partnership

Sacramento, CA

Crocker Flanagan Public Relations

Sacramento, CA

Fleishman Hillard Public Relations

Sacramento, CA

Foote, Cone and Belding Public relations

Ketchum Public Relations

Kimpton Hotel/Restaurant Group

Landis Communications

Mandalay Pictures

Oakland Raiders Football

Ogilvy Public Relations (formerly Deen & Black)

Porter Novelli

Sacramento County Parks and Recreation

Sacramento Kings Basketball

Sacramento Monarchs Basketball

San Francisco Visitor/Convention Bureau

Serious Magic Computer software

Sonoma Valley Vistors Center

Thacker Group

Tech Expo

Walt & Company Public Relations

Warner Brothers Studios

Westin St. Francis Hotel

LOCAL

American Lung Association

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

San Francisco, CA

Hollywood, CA

Oakland, CA

Sacramento, CA

San Francisco, San Jose

Sacramento, CA

San Francisco, CA

Sacramento, CA

Sonoma, CA

Sacramento, CA

Santa Clara, CA

Burbank, CA

San Francisco, CA

Chico, CA

Axis 4Learning Educational promotion

Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Blue Room Theatre

Chico Chamber of Commerce

Clear Channel Communications Radio promotions

Chico Mall

CSU, Chico

Campus Sports Information

CSU, Chico Continuing Education Promotion/marketing

CSU, Chico Court Theatre

CSU, Chico Public Affairs

CSU, Chico School of Arts

CSU, Chico Department of Theatre Arts

Regent Broadcasting Promotions

Stages Learning Materials

Synthesis

Weekly newspaper promotions

NEWS-EDITORIAL INTERNSHIPS

OUT-OF-TOWN

Arizona Republic

Contra Costa Times

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

Chico, CA

Phoenix, AZ

Contra Costa, CA

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

Davis Enterprise

Davis, CA

Fremont Argus

Fremont, CA

The Fresno Bee

Fresno, CA

Half Moon Bay Review

Half Moon Bay, CA

Houston Chronicle

Houston, TX

La Crosse Tribune

La Crosse, WI

Marysville Appeal-Democrat

Marysville, CA

The Modesto Bee

Modesto, CA

North County Times

San Diego, CA

Paradise Post

Paradise, CA

Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia, P A

Redding Record Searchlight

Redding, CA

The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento, CA

Scripps-Howard News Wire

Washington, D.C.

Winona Daily News

Winona, MN

LOCAL

Chico Enterprise-Record

Chico, CA

Chico News & Review

Chico, CA

KCHO Public Radio

Chico, CA

KNVN/KHSLfNCN Television News

Chico, CA

Quality Digest magazine

Chico, CA

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

2. Describe how credit is awarded for internships by the unit.

To earn credit, the student must be enrolled for the term that the internship will take place, must enroll in the internship course (Journalism 289), and must meet with the internship coordinator before or at the beginning of an internship. Although facultymembers encourage students to find media work during the summer, an internship cannot be granted for work already completed. As explained above, an internship requires that the student be supervised and file weekly reports while working. Sometimes aggressive students may land an internship based on their own leg work. In some cases, the department will grant credit as long as the employer and student meet the requirements of the program.

3. Copies of internship reports and questionnaires are available for the site team. See files in team work room.

4. Discuss awards won by the unit's students in local, regional and national competitions.

News-editorial majors have done extremely well in various competitions. In one of the three years the award was offered, a journalism major on The Orion staff was named national Most Valuable Staffer for college newspapers--only five students were honored nationally in the annual competition sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation and College Media Advisers Inc. The honor brought a $5,000 scholarship to the student and a $5,000 award to The Orion. Another major also placed second in the sports writing category of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, winning a $1,500 scholarship. That student's work also won a Eugene Pulliam Fellowship award of $3,000 that led to an internship at the Arizona Republic. Another student placed in feature writing in the Hearst contest. Three other majors have earned honorable mention in the Hearst contests. The current managing editor of The Orion has won a $10,000, Top 10 Scholarship from the Scripps Howard Foundation for the 2003-2004 year. Two other students won Scripps Howard Foundation scholarships for a semester in Washington, D.C. at the wire service bureau. Two female sportswriters have won AP internships and worked at The Houston Post. In 2003, a student won the Los Angeles Times/Del Olmo scholarship for $2,500.

Also, for the past six years, journalism majors have been constant winners in scholarship competitions sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. For the summer of 2002, for example, three of the seven statewide winners were from the department.

Journalism majors serving as Tehama Group Communications staff have recently won two awards in the regional IABC professional competition sponsored by the Sacramento IABC chapter. Their work was evaluated along with submissions from agencies and corporate public relations departments (See Appendix 7).

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

S. If campus media are under unit control, discuss awards they have won in local, regional and national competitions.

The Orion, a student-managed laboratory newspaper of the department of journalism, is one of the most acclaimed university weeklies in the nation. The Orion has won six national Pacemakers and has been a Pacemaker finalist 12 times, most recently in 200102. The National Newspaper Association gave The Orion its top general excellence award for university newspapers in both 2000 and 2002, and its second-place award in 2003. The Associated Collegiate Press awarded The Orion first place in its Newspaper of the Year competition for weeklies at the National College Newspaper Convention in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. The Orion has frequently placed at the ACP's Best of Show competitions, including second place among university broadsheets at the 2002 National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla. In 2000, the Society of Professional Journalists named The Orion the nation's best college weekly in its Mark of Excellence competition. The Orion has been SPJ's Western regional first-place winner five times, most recently in 2000 and 2001.

The Orion has dominated the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest in recent years. After not winning until 1994, The Orion has won first-place for general excellence among all four-year university papers in the state for four years in a row and in seven of the past nine years. No other university paper, either daily or weekly, has won the first-place award more than three times. The Orion also has been a three-time winner of the California Intercollegiate Press Association's top general excellence award three times since 1997. In 2002 and 2003, the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists presented The Orion with its James Madison Freedom of Information Award. (See Appendix, Section 7 for complete list.)

6. Additional evidence of quality of the internship experience.

Both student interns and their employers have praised the quality of CSU, Chico's journalism internships.

Some comments from employers and students:

1. "Writing skills were very good, straightforward, organized and analytical. Responded quickly and positively to suggestions. Excellent grammar and spelling, knowledge of AP style. She became a valued member of our Senate Capitol office staff." -- Supervisor, state senator's staff (summer 2001).

2. "All performances sold out in advance for the first time, due in large part to her efforts. She supervised the photo shoot, got several media co-sponsors, wrote numerous press releases and feature stories, and had extensive contact with the media. Send more students like her." -- Fine arts marketing director (fall 2001).

3. "We would definitely want Stephanie on our P.R. team if she were graduating. Her maturity, logical thinking, friendly demeanor and respectful nature make her an ideal public relations person." --Hotel/restaurant public relations staff (summer 2001).

4. "Niesha brought a level of enthusiasm to her internship that was contagious. Combine that with talent, of which she has plenty, and the result was an excellent 12

Department of Journalism CSU, Chico

weeks of work. She was offered a full-time job at the conclusion of her internship, something she undeniably earned." - Internship director of a 300,000 daily circulation newspaper (summer 2002).

5. "Melody spent the summer covering a variety of sports -- from major league baseball to the WNBA to cricket. She wrote sidebars on Houston Astros games and covered the four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets and generally helped out wherever she was needed. And she did it all with a professionalism that belies her young age, and with a writing flair that isn't often seen in interns." - Sunday sports editor of a 565,000 daily circulation newspaper (summer 2002).

6. "She was tenacious, serious and hard-working with a strong desire to learn as much as possible. We were impressed with her fundamental skills and eagerness to improve upon them. She took editing well and showed a lot of initiative in coming up with story ideas. In short, she was a model intern." - Managing editor of 34,000 daily circulation newspaper (summer 2002).