Loyola University Chicago

Coordinator: Lorenza Fabretti

Course Description
This unique class allows students to earn course credit while gaining valuable professional experience as an intern in Rome, Italy, essentially making Rome your classroom. Students are placed in appropriate government agencies, non-government organizations, or businesses to earn academic credit through volunteer experience. Approval of the instructor is required before enrollment.
Generally open only to full-year students.
 Students will intern in a wide variety of placements, including (but not limited to)

• non-profit organizations, such as Mother Theresa's Charity, Roma Community Outreach, and San Egidio
• private companies / law offices, such as Baker / McKenzie and Portolano, Colella, Cavallo, Prosperetti Law Firm
• political offices / campaigns, such as Democrats Aborad Italy and the Italian Senate
• international organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Development of Law Organization (IDLO), and the International office for Migration (IOM)

Purposes of the Course
The internship course is designed to achieve four major purposes:

1. apply classroom knowledge to a professional work environment
2. gain valuable professional experience that will look great on a resume
3. "test the waters" of a specific professional area of interest, and
4. "get a foot in the door" of a specific professional area of interest.

Professional Requirements
Interns enroll in the internship class (INTS 370-A01) for three credit hours, working for eight-to-ten hours per week in an internship position jointly agreed upon by the student and the internship director. Specific work hours are arranged with the internship supervisors based on the intern's schedule and the needs of the host organization. The intern is also required to take part in a special group internship seminar which will meet three times during the semester, as well as write a scholarly research paper on the internship experience.

Note: A mandatory fee of €220.00 for internship insurance is required of students enrolling in this course.  This fee is payable in Rome.

Course Format and Evaluation
The distribution of grades will be as follows:
50% Host Evaluation
50% Final Research Paper

Mandatory Group Meetings
During the semester we will meet three times as a group to discuss your experiences. ALL MEETINGS ARE MANDATORY. The first mandatory meeting, in addition to discussing in greater detail the requirements of the paper that you will be writing as part of this internship experience, is designed for you to get to know each other and learn about the various offices in which students are interning. The second and third mandatory meetings, in addition to discussing the progress being made on your papers, will be devoted to assessing as a group your experiences in the various offices. Failure to attend these meetings can result in a reduction of your final grade by as much as half of one letter grade.

Host Evaluation: Deadline and Grade
As discussed during the application process, your final grade for the internship experience will be based on two assessments. One will be completed by your internship supervisor in your host office and will constitute 50% of your final grade. In order to aid you in understanding how your supervisors will be assessing your work, I will provide you with a copy of the evaluation form which they will use. It will be your responsibility to hand deliver this form to your supervisor and subsequently to hand deliver the completed form to me.

The average score of your host evaluation can range from the lowest score of 1.0 to the highest score of a perfect 10.0 and will be translated into a letter grade in the following fashion:

• 9.7-10.0 (A+)
• 9.3-9.6 (A)
• 9.0-9.2 (A-)
• 8.7-8.9 (B+)
• 8.3-8.6 (B)
• 8.0-8.2 (B-)
• 7.7-7.9 (C+)
• 7.3-7.6 (C)
• 7.0-7.2 (C-)
• 6.7-6.9 (D+)
• 6.3-6.6 (D)
• 6.0-6.2 (D-)
• 5.9 and below (F)

Research Paper Deadline and Grade
The second half (50%) of your final grade will be based on the five-page final paper that you will be preparing for the course. Although more will be said about this paper at our first group meeting, please note that this paper is designed to have you focus on both the general field in which you are working as well as your specific internship experience. Toward this end, the first half of the paper should consist of a scholarly analysis of the specific field in which you are working (e.g., if you are working in an international organization, this portion of the paper should analyze the nature and structure of international organizations in general). The second half of the paper should assess the reality of how things "actually work" in your specific field by drawing on your internship experiennce.

At least four types of sources should be documented and properly cited in your paper:

1. scholarly literature (i.e., books and journal articles);
2. pamphlets and /or "in-house" analyses generated by your host office;
3. websites related to your internship; and
4. interviews with members of your host office.

The paper will be graded according to the following scale: 97-100 (A+); 93-96 (A); 90-92 (A-); 87-89 (B+); 83-86 (B); 80-82 (B-); 77-79 (C+); 73-76 (C); 70-72 (C-); 67-69 (D+); 63-66 (D); 60-62 (D-); 59 and below (F).

The following attachments will be given to students with the syllabus in class:

• Sample Host Evaluation Form
• Tips on Ensuring a Successful Internship Experience
• Loyola University Statement on Plagiarism and Other Issues of Academic Dishonesty