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Internships and Field Exploration
Internship and Field Exploration Programs
Jackie Baker, M.S., Director
Saint Mary’s University supports field exploration and internship experiences as integral parts of its
curriculum, enabling students to participate in structured, supervised learning experiences for academic
credit, generally off-campus. The internship and field exploration program strives to provide carefully
designed experiences which offer a new arena for applying theories and concepts learned in the
classroom, as well as opportunities for professional and personal development.
Program Objectives:
• To provide students an opportunity to participate in carefully designed work experiences to explore
and develop personal aptitudes, abilities, and interests in relation to their career choice.
• To provide experiences that offer a new forum for applying theories and concepts learned in the
classroom as well as professional and personal development.
• To provide opportunities for students to gain valuable hands-on work experience and access to a
different assortment of equipment and/or situations not easily obtained or available on campus.
• To provide students expanded opportunities for self-directed learning.
Field Exploration
A field exploration experience is a planned work experience for academic credit that provides students
with the opportunity to explore a field and/or major and gain basic knowledge in a work environment.
This experience involves mainly observation, limited hands-on experience, and is generally part-time
and unpaid.
Students must have completed a minimum of 24 credit hours and have a minimum 2.000 cumulative
GPA to participate in a field exploration. Students may earn 1-3 credits in a field exploration, with a
maximum of 17 credits for any combination of internship and field exploration experiences. All field
exploration experiences must be pre-approved by the student’s academic advisor and the director of
internships. Students may meet with the director of internships and/or faculty members to identify
possible field exploration sites. Questions regarding a field exploration programs should be directed to
the director of internships.
Internship
An internship is a planned work experience for academic credit supervised by a qualified professional
in a real-work environment. This experience integrates a student’s academic and career interests with
hands-on work experience. An internship may be either part-time or full-time, and either paid or unpaid.
Students must have completed a minimum of 56 credit hours, have a minimum 2.000 cumulative GPA,
and a minimum 2.000 major GPA to participate in an internship. Internships are taken through the
department in which the student’s major is offered. Students may earn 1-17 credits in an internship,
with a maximum of 17 credits for any combination of internship and field exploration experiences. The
number of internship credits for which a student registers is based on a number of factors including
departmental curriculum requirements, duration of the internship and the intern’s time commitment,
a student’s concurrent course load, the number of elective credits desired, and the credits previously
earned through experiential education. The distribution between graded and ungraded internship
credits are as follows unless specific departmental guidelines have been established: three credits
graded; remaining credits are graded Pass/No Credit. The academic department determines the number
of internship credits applicable to the fulfillment of an academic major. All internships must be preapproved
by the student’s academic advisor and the director of internships.
Internships are arranged on an individual basis for students in a field compatible with their academic
major, interests, skills, and career goals. Internships are generally completed in the U.S., although
international internships are also an option for students. Students have interned in Ireland, Mexico,
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