Timothy Crusius, an SMU English professor, is frustrated. Havingserved as head of the English department’s internship programfor five years, he hoped to be helping 15 to 20 students findinternships across the nation. He is currently working with anaverage of only seven students a year.
“Internships are hardly a new idea,” Crusius said.With popular internship programs available through SMU’sbusiness and engineering schools, the English department seemedlike the next place to provide internships to students.
English majors and minors often have a fear of unemploymentafter graduation. Crusius said that the internship program is”good for correcting the perception” that Englishmajors and minors have a limited range of employmentopportunities.
The internship program gives students an idea of what the jobmarket is actually like.
The department has helped students find internships across thecountry in a “wide sweep” of jobs, including workingwith ABC News in New York City, public relations firms in SanFrancisco and Los Angeles and prominent magazines on both the Eastand West coasts.
The available internships are different every summer, butusually there are public relations and media and broadcastjournalism internships available to students.
Since internships are available through almost every major, theEnglish department is expecting students to have strong writing andoral skills. “Almost every job requires strong oral andwritten work,” Crusius said.
“Internships help students really decide what they want todo [after graduation],” Crusius said. Students withinternship experience realize how helpful they are, as theexperience is often a deciding factor when picking occupationsafter graduation, he said.
In order to help the program gain in popularity, the departmentis focusing on the benefits of having an internship.
Students get three hours credit for completing internships. Theprogram was originally intended for juniors and seniors, althoughall declared English majors and minors can take advantage of theprogram.
Typically, summer internships are the most popular, as theyallow an undisturbed period to focus on the internship itselfwithout being distracted by schoolwork.
Esther Ayers, a junior English major, is in the process offinding an internship for the approaching summer.
“An English major is preparing me for many jobs, as wellas life. There are many possible routes I can take aftergraduation,” Ayers said.
