Community Partners

The Engish Department Writing and Editing Internship Program highly values our community partners.  We wish to provide a hands on learning experience for our students and fresh, skilled additions to our community partners' teams.  Our student interns are graduate or undergraduate majors and minors in their senior year of studies as well as participants in our Certificate for Public, Technical and Workplace Writing.  They have been in active and engaged learning environments honing their critical and creative writing as well as the respective mental skills.  You can benefit from these students by providing them the professional environment they need to put their studies into practice. 

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About our students

Students must complete an application, provide a current resume or c.v., and a writing sample for entry into the internship program. Upon approval of the application, our intern coordinator will meet with the student to discuss their goals and assess best community partner match-up to suit those goals. These application materials will be forwarded to the community partner for review and consultation with our internship coordinator.

Students will receive 3 credits for a full-semester internship and may repeat internship credit up to 6 credit hours (2 semesters). Our students are advised to consider the internship a course and take no more than three other courses simultaneous with the internship.

Our majors and minors study a wide-range of subjects during courses in literature, creative writing, critical and analytical writing, professional writing, technical writing, pedagogy, rhetorical analysis, and grammar.

In addition to our English majors and minors, the internship program is open to students enrolled in our Certificate in Public, Technical and Workplace Writing.

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Mentoring Student Interns

Internships are meant to be mutually beneficial partnerships between our students and your business or organization. To that end, we have developed the guidelines below to help you ensure the best experience for you and your student intern.

Responsibilities of Community Partner

A well-qualified supervisor at your organization should oversee the intern and assume responsibility for maintaining effective communication with the Department of English internship coordinator. Specific duties performed by this site supervisor should include the following:

• Interview applicants
• Provide written outline of intern responsibilities on the Internship Syllabus during first week of internship
• Mentor student through assigned responsibilities throughout the internship
• Confer with student intern periodically about progress in the internship
• Provide written evaluation of student at mid-semester and conclusion of semester
• Complete Internship Agreement with University of West Florida

Responsibilities of Intern

• Interview with community partner
• Complete Internship Syllabus outlining responsibilities with site supervisor
• Maintain professional and respectful engagement in performance of responsibilities at internship site
• Confer with site supervisor periodically about progress in the internship
• Communicate actively with site supervisor and other team partners to ensure success in assigned responsibilities

Responsibilities of Intern Coordinator

• Review student application materials to ensure the best match for students and community partners
• Set up interview process with student and community partner
• Conduct intern orientation session at beginning of semester
• Lead group meetings at mid-semester and conclusion of semester
• Meet with student and community partner for on-site visits 
• Maintain communication with intern and community partner throughout internship

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About Our Program

The Editing and Writing internship program was established in 2014 with a small group of 6 interns who actively assisted in the design of the program with our internship coordinator, Regina Sakalarios-Rogers.  Our first community partner was Ballinger Publishing.  As of 2019, we have placed over 120 student in internships and connected students with a variety of community partners in Pensacola and abroad. Many of our students have translated their experiences and networking during their internships into revised or enhanced career goals as well as employment after graduation. You can see some of their success stories on our Home Page along with our current Outstanding Student intern.

Our diverse array of community partners makes our program a vibrant learning environment for our students. You can see a short list of those partners on our Home Page along with information on our current featured community partner.  We hope to make you one of those satisfied features soon!

Each spring semester we host an intern fair where our students can connect with our community partners and our community partners can connect with one another, our department faculty, and students.  The intern fair date will be posted on our Home Page in January each year.  You are invited to join us.  See what our students have to offer and what our current community partners have to say about our program.

Already interested, get in touch with us via the contact information below. All you need do is complete an Intern Request form and consult with our intern coordinator.