Overview: course descriptions and syllabi

SBU 103: General Internship
The General Internship is an elective course that will allow students to apply the skills and proficiencies they develop through the General Education curriculum in a professional setting. It allows students then to gain academic credit for professional work undertaken outside of that prescribed as part of a major or program requirement.

• SBU 103. General Internship Syllabus (PDF)

SBU 104: General Service
The General Service Course is an elective course that will allow students to apply the skills and proficiencies they develop through the General Education curriculum to serving the needs of a defined community. As students draw on the ideas and skills developed though their General Education courses, they will through this service experience combine academic theory with real-life experience, understanding their academic work in light of their service to others, fostering their sense of civic engagement, and sharpening their insights into themselves and their places in their communities. It allows students then to gain academic credit for service work undertaken outside of that prescribed as part of a major or program requirement.

• SBU 104. General Service Syllabus (PDF)

For an overview of SBU 103 & 104, this Zoom webinar from April, 2020.

For further information or to register for SBU 103 or 104, please contact Dr. David Hilmey.

SBU 103 and 104: credit hours

• SBU 103 and 104 can be worth one to three credit hours. Credit value will be granted by the Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences in light of hours worked, responsibilities, and duration of the internship or service, with a rough guide of 40 hours of internship or service equivalent to one credit hour. Internship or service may be undertaken during the summer or during the academic year.
• A zero-credit option will allow students to be enrolled in SBU 103 or 104 while they are engaged in the actual experience. They will then register for the course again for credit in the semester following their experience.
• Internship or work experience should be in one site. Service need not be in one site; however, it is up to the student to articulate in their proposal how the proposed service is unified and beneficial.

Internship or service process

Students will register for the zero-credit hour option for the time when they are actually doing the internship—this will also account for their pre-internship work and the keeping of a journal. If the internship is for credit, they will then register for the correct number of hours when they return, which will be granted upon submission of journals and final report. A committee will evaluate the final report and journal entries in the last month of the semester.

1. Before Internship or Service
   • Meet with the Career and Professional Readiness Center (CPRC); complete required paperwork.
   • For SBU 104: Meet with the Franciscan Center for Social Concern (FCSC); complete required paperwork.
   • Meet with faculty (Contact Dr. David Hilmey: Send an email).
   • Provide one-page statement (proposal) of how the internship or service aligns with your educational goals.
   • For SBU 104: Provide a one-page description (proposal) of the service to be undertaken. This should be coordinated with the service agency and/or community beneficiaries before registering for the service course.
   • Register for SBU 103 or 104, 0 credit hours.
2. During Internship or Service
   • Keep journal on internship or service experience.
   • Complete all required paperwork for CPRC (and FCSC for SBU 104).
   • Provide post-internship or post-service evaluation.
   • [Satisfactory completion of the work to this point will earn a passing grade for the zero-credit hour course.]
3. After Internship or Service
   • Register for 1-3 credit hours.
   • Meet with CPRC (and FCSC for SBU 104).
   • Meet with faculty beginning of semester; review journals and plan paper.
   • Meet at midterm; review paper draft.
   • Submit final draft one month before end of semester.

SBU 103 and 104: weekly journal

• What did you do this week? What concrete things did you do? What new things did you learn?
• What was its role in or effect on the organization or community? Why was it important or helpful?
• How did it relate to knowledge or skills you have developed in Gen Ed courses, or to the learning goals thereof?

SBU 103 and 104: report

The report will address the following.

• The structure of the organization and your place within that structure
• Your duties and responsibilities
• Your own self-reflection of the impact of the experience (with reference to the goals outlined in their proposal)
• The way that the experience contributed to your own development in the terms of General Education Learning Goals 1, 2, 3, and 4.