University Internship Program (UIP)

Each 4-credit course fulfills the Experiential Learning Requirement. All courses require a minimum of 100 hours of work at an internship site and participation in ongoing Blackboard discussions. Students may take one, two, or all five UIP courses.

ISP 250 – You, Your Work and the World

ISP 250 combines academic curriculum with supervised work experience. The course assists career decision-making, drives individual success through on-the-job experiences, provides students with valuable networking opportunities, and enables students to view their internship experiences within a broad world perspective. Topics include career development techniques, change management, conflict resolution, and workplace ethics.

Learning Goals

1. Understand the skills obtained from their internship roles and the contributions they made to their organizations’ success.
2. Gain an in-depth knowledge of the organizations in which they work.
3. Observe how societal and world issues affect their workplaces.
4. Acquire insights into the career planning process.
5. Fine-tune writing, rhetorical and critical thinking abilities.

Final Project

Career Portfolio and Presentation – Students will develop a high-impact Career Portfolio, which will show-off work results, demonstrate academic/work/personal achievements, indicate their value as team members, and stress how their efforts contributed to their organizations’ productivity. A high-energy 5 to 10-minute oral presentation of their Career Portfolios will be made during the third or fourth class meeting.

ISP 251 – Values-Based Leadership: Making a Difference While Making a Profit

The primary focus of ISP251 is to examine and apply the values, goals and operating methods of visionary leaders who have successfully pursued financial rewards for themselves and their organizations, while also achieving broader social goals. The results of the examination will be applied at the students’ internship sites, where students will demonstrate a range of leadership skills, including an analysis of basic management issues and recommendations for improvements.

Learning Goals

1. Identify the most common characteristics of corporate leaders who have achieved financial success, while taking into account the working environment of their employees, the health of the environment, and benefits to a larger community.
2. Connect the lessons learned from the study of leaders who guide, motivate and inspire high performers to their own internship experiences.
3. Identify the characteristics of an organization which best matches the student’s personal goals.
4. Gain new insights into leadership skills that could benefit their workplaces and society as a whole.
5. Further develop their writing, rhetorical and critical thinking skills.

Final Project

Paper and Oral Report - Students’ papers will incorporate a range of leadership issues covered in class, such as reflections on the reading assignments, weekly Blackboard discussions, their internship and workshop experiences, possibly their own research, and what they have learned in the past ten weeks that has enhanced their understanding of values-based leadership. Also outlined will be what students have learned about their own leadership skills, strengths, weaknesses and aspirations. An oral report on major findings will be given in a class discussion group.

ISP 252 – Creativity as a Change Agent in the Workplace

Students will study how creativity functions within his or her workplace. The class will examine the process of creativity as it might work to revolutionize an industry or force it into failure. Students will examine creative innovations related to the following: invention, leadership, advertising and marketing, teaming concepts and collaboration, and the drive behind entrepreneurship. The course is designed to focus the students' attention on the creative process as it relates to the observable workplace, reflective practice, and the application of theories and ideas.

Learning Goals

1. Recount and reflect upon the history of creative innovations with the workplace.
2. Examine and analyze their own workplaces, as the organizations generate creative strategies.
3. Discuss new insights related to creativity with the workplace, such as the creative process and the individual’s role in the process and the potential of creativity to better an organization.
4. Analyze how creativity in their workplaces is tied to the reciprocal relationship between theory and practice.
5. Articulate and examine current creative trends within their workplaces, reflect on the outcomes of these creative change agents, and support their analyses with course readings and class discussions.

Final Project

PowerPoint and Final Presentation - Referring to Beyond Bullet Points, prepare a creative PowerPoint presentation that focuses on your current workplace. The content of your PowerPoint should be twofold. You are to both educate your classmates about the creative changes in your field and enliven their curiosity about these creative agents of change.

ISP 253 – Public Service Careers

Familiarize yourself with key issues faced by the public service sector and discover the range of available public service jobs. For this course students are required to obtain an internship in a nonprofit organization, a foundation, a branch of government, a union, a for-profit company that provides a public service, or some other public service organization. Help in finding these types of internships can be found at the Career Center or by searching on eRecruiting. A minimum of 10 hours of work per week and four class meetings are required.

Learning Goals

1. Understand some of the types of problems that public-service organizations attempt to address.
2. Learn about different types of public service organizations that try to address these problems and the different strategies and tactics they use.
3. Reflect on the way the students' companies or internships address any of these problems.
4. Familiarize themselves with career opportunities in public service.
5. Improve writing, rhetorical, and critical thinking skills.

ISP 350 – Navigating the Changing Workplace

This advanced internship course is completely online and is for students who have more than three years of work experience, or an already-completed departmental internship, or the completion of another UIP course. Students will use their ongoing work experience as a laboratory to examine and report on key environmental issues impacting themselves and their workplaces. Students will be given opportunities to study environmental, gender, diversity, and ethical issues in their workplace. They will also develop networking skills and opportunities in the business community.

Learning Goals

1. Understand their workplaces, in terms of the internal and external factors that affect organizations.
2. Understand the concept of change and why organizations change.
3. Understand themselves as change agents.
4. Develop critical thinking and change management skills.
5. Acquire insights into the career planning process.

Final Project

SWOT Analysis and Presentation - A seven page written analysis and a PowerPoint presentation of the analysis are expected. Students will review their organizations’ environments in terms of competition/industry, technology, customers, social/cultural trends, and missions/resources/objectives. From this, they will develop a SWOT Analysis, showing and explaining their organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The objective of the SWOT analysis is to deepen students’ understanding of their organizations, how the organizations will likely change and develop, and how their companies compare to competitors.

ISP 240 – The Liberal Arts and Career Pathways

This 2-credit course emphasizes the practical value of a Liberal Arts education. You will examine a variety of career pathways and meet DePaul alumni who are model examples of a Liberal Arts education in action. This course does not require an internship and does not fulfill the Experiential Learning Requirement.

Learning Goals

1. Articulate the value of a Liberal Arts education in relation to the development of an evolving career pathway.
2. Examine and analyze their own values and interests to determine how they can provide a foundation for a variety of career possibilities.
3. Analyze a variety of career paths, supported by research and personal reflection, and clarify what preparation for the careers will be necessary.
4. Conduct discussions and interviews with members of the Chicago community who are model examples of a Liberal Arts education in action.
5. State, in a basic fashion, the theoretical and ethical responsibilities of a career in relation to the needs of one’s community.