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Community engagement matters! 

Get involved to develop engaged citizens, strengthen our community, and advance research and scholarship!

One place to start? Connect CAL students and the Broader Community through Internships!

Internships can serve as a catalyst for personal growth. Student interns receive a guided introduction to the work environment and find opportunities to enhance their knowledge, skills, and abilities, often clarifying their career and educational goals. 

Some NAU majors require internships, but all students can benefit from completing one during their college years.

Internships make up one form of experiential learning. Opportunities like these can help to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between theory and practice while gaining practical experience in the field. 

Other types of Experiential Learning include: Study Abroad, Service learning, and Field Work. In some instances a student can engage in an internship, service learning, or field work experience while also engaging in their studying abroad!

Obtaining an internship may take a minute. Some organizations have deadlines more than five months before the start date set for their existing internships. Others review applicants and make offers one to two weeks before the start date. To have the most options, start your search early and don’t stop applying for internships until you’ve accepted a position.

Step 1: Identify careers or organizations of interest

Identifying organizations that support causes you believe in, or provide services of interest to you can be a good way to start. You may be a great match for organizations that you are passionate about.

Step 2: Search for leads

  • Search Handshake for postings and on-campus and off-campus internship opportunities.

  • Connect with employers at NAU career events.

  • Check other job or internship sources such as Indeed.com, Idealist.org, PsychologyJobs.com, or LinkedIn

  • Speak with faculty, academic advisors and internship contacts in your department - listed below:

    1. Art History

      1. Arts and Cultural Management

      2. Cinema Studies

      3. Comparative Cultural Studies

      4. Humanities

      5. Museum Studies

  • English

    • Erica Jones - erica.jones@nau.edu

  • History

    • Derek Heng - Derek.Heng@nau.edu

  • Interior Design at Flagstaff Mountain Campus

  • Interior Design at Scottsdale Community College

    • Kevin Woolley - Kevin.Woolley@nau.edu

  • Kitt School of Music

    • Eric Lenz - eric.lenz@nau.edu

  • Philosophy

    • Luke Maring - Luke.Maring@nau.edu

  • Theatre

    • Kathleen McGeever - Kathleen.McGeever@nau.edu

  • Meet with the CAL Career Development Coordinator to get advice and help with your resume and cover letter, and to practice interview techniques.

  • Talk to friends, family and acquaintances about any opportunities they may have seen.

…Or, create your own internship!

Contact employers in your field of interest and describing your qualifications, interests and how you can contribute to their success. Descriptions of existing internships are helpful to frame your discussion with a possible internship host. Focus on the advantages to the organization in adding an intern! They could have an extra person to assist with projects, and you can learn more about the field youa re interested in!

  • Be sure that your resume reflects the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you will bring to the internship.

  • Create a list of organizations you would like to work for, and be sure they have an area or department that fits your interests. This takes some investigative skills.

  • Find the appropriate contact person. You may be able to identify this person through the organization’s website, or on LinkedIn, or by simply calling and asking to speak with someone about setting up an internship.

    • Explain specifically why you are interested in their organization, and what you will bring to the organization, such as assistance with current projects and a willingness to work hard.

Important advice when making your contacts:

  • Don’t say, Do you have any internships available?  If they haven’t used interns before, their answer will likely be no.  Instead, describe your desire to work for the organization in terms of setting up a “work experience” to learn more about a specific career field.

  • Ask if there are any projects they haven’t had time to tackle, which you could complete while gaining experience in the field.  Share information about your skills or education that might be of interest to them.

  • After you have found a possible partnership for a new internship, be sure to talk to your department's Internship contact (above) in order to create a credit earning opportunity and to recruit a faculty advisor! You can find the steps needed to create a credit earning internship below, and you will need a Faculty supervisor to make them happen!

For more in-depth information about setting up a new internship or finding an existing one, explore the Career Steps lessons on Internships: Internships: Making the most of your internship.

Step 3:

If the internship relates to your major or minor, Talk with your academic advisor or Faculty Advisor to see if credit can be earned! If you are already a full-time student, additional credits will not cost you more for the semester!

If the intern will earn credit, the student, university, and internship site will enter into an agreement that sets out the parameters of the internship using the affiliation agreement process.

  • Look at this in-depth guide to creating an affiliation agreement form for your internship.

    • Your credit- bearing internship will have to include:

      • A signed academic agreement between the student, the internship site, and the supervising faculty member or departmental designee, with a copy kept in the student's departmental file. 

      • An incorporated academic syllabus which includes 45 hours of internship work experience per academic credit as well as all specific student, site, and faculty duties and responsibilities.  Setting out clear expectations for the student and for the site—before the internship begins—will lead to better results. 

      • Internships are more successful when combined with scheduled meetings with an internship advisor or faculty sponsor. Structured, written reflections submitted on a regular basis help synthesize what students learn from the experience and how it relates to their academic field of study. Evaluation should be based on what students learn, not just what they do at the internship site.

A Handy Check List for Internship creation:

  • Meet with student to discuss internship opportunities  

    1. Review your department’s internship forms and the CAL Affiliation Agreement with the student 

    2. Be sure to create or complete the following in writing:

 1. Objectives, Policies, and Procedures 

2. CAL Affiliation Agreement 

3. Work Agreement 

4. Internship Enrollment 

5. Employer Evaluation 

6. Final Report Guidelines  

  • Determine the number of units the student will earn for their internship experience  

  • Receive the completed Work Agreement with both student and employer signatures  

  • Receive the completed Affiliation Agreement with the employer signature  

  • Turn the Affiliation Agreement into the CAL Dean’s Office for processing  

  • Establish frequency and method of contact with student and employer  

  • Recommend student send you brief email updates as follows: 

1. Bi-weekly during the 1st month 

2. Monthly during the 2nd month 

3. As needed for the duration  

  • Establish final paper guidelines  

  • Enroll student in course for desired number of units 

Final Materials  

  • Final paper guidelines (see Final Report Guidelines for details)  

  • Employer/supervisor evaluation (see Employer Evaluation form) 

1. Have student request the Employer Evaluation one month before internship completion 

2. Have student schedule a final presentation (for some departments) with their faculty advisor 

3. Post final grades (P/F or letter grade determined by prefix above) 

Need more resource? Check out NAU Career Developments Internship tools for Faculty and Staff!

Visit Handshake to create an account and post your opportunities. The Handshake Help Center is a great resource to help you get started and find answers to common questions. Through Handshake, your company will have access to post jobs and internships, accept applications, schedule interviews, create events and register for all our upcoming career fairs! 

Set yourself up for success with Handshake by following the checklist in the order listed below. 

***For on-campus employers (NAU departments) with questions or concerns, please visit our On-campus employer resources page or email StudentEmployment@nau.edu. 

Current partnered Internships

These programs are the result of partnerships that NAU has established with companies, organizations, and non-profits to offer multiple internship positions in a variety of major areas. These internships may run once a year during a summer or semester term or may run year-round with specific application periods.

Local, State, National, and Global Organizations of all kinds where Lumberjacks have found Internships in the Arts and Letters