Information for Faculty Advisors

The following information will go over expectations for those acting in the Faculty Advisor role for the Internship Program.

Before the internship

Since the Faculty Advisor (FA) is responsible for evaluating and grading the intern, the FA should meet with the intern to ensure they understand your expectations related to:

  • How you will evaluate the student. FAs will have a mid-term and final evaluation from the employer to use to evaluate the intern. Most FAs also require students to complete an assignment. The assignment is entirely up to you. Common assignments include:
    • Reflection paper
    • Journal
    • Literature review
    • Research paper
    • Presentation (e.g., Biology Symposium participation)
  • Projects and responsibilities as they relate to any program requirements. Some programs require students to closely connect the work of the internship to the academic subject, while others allow students to pursue areas of interest that don’t necessarily connect their academic focus.
  • How you will communicate with each other throughout the internship. How often will you touch base? What are your preferences for communication? At minimum, please plan to meet with your intern before, at the mid-term, and at the end of the internship. Since the student is likely conducting their internship off-campus, please emphasize that they should reach out to you and Career Development immediately if they have any safety concerns at their site. If you hear of any concerns, please include Career Development in the conversation.
  • Determine how often you need to check their timesheet and what you’ll accept for a timesheet (here is a link to a blank one in case they don’t have one to pass along from the employer).
  • Help students create internship goals based on Career Competencies. Students must have goals in at least four competency areas.

During the internship

  • Check in with the student at least twice: once after you receive the mid-term review, and once after you receive the final evaluation. These evaluations are completed by the site supervisor and forwarded to you and the intern.
  • Discuss challenges, responsibilities, and progress on goals, projects, and assignments.
  • Reach out to the site supervisor after receiving the mid-term review to talk about the intern’s progress.
  • Ensure that the intern is completing the hours they agreed to in the learning contract.

After

  • Evaluate the intern based on the mid-term and final reviews and any assignments you assigned, and submit a letter grade at the end of the semester.