Procedures for Internships
For organizations seeking interns:
Contact Dr. Peter Bellin at 818-677-4719
Complete our basic information form here:
Employer Request (Word document)
Once completed, this form can be emailed to Peter Bellin.
Interns are placed on a cycle that follows the academic calendar. The Fall Semester begins at the end of August, the Spring Semester begins at the end of January, and the Summer Semester starts at the beginning of June. We will start referring students to you in the week or two before each semester, up to the third week.
For students seeking internships:
Complete the basic information form this downloadable from:
Students Request for Internship (Word)
Once completed, this form can be emailed to peter.bellin@csun.edu
Students are encouraged to submit their requests for an internship on the following schedule:
- For the Fall Semester: submit your forms starting the third week of August, and no later than the first week of classes.
- For the Spring Semester: submit your forms starting after the Thanksgiving weekend. Please pay attention to your campus email over the winter intersession. You may need to contact employers or go on interviews during the month of January. Please submit your internship form no later than the first week of classes.
- Summer internships: submit your forms starting after Spring Break, and earlier if at all possible. Some employers will have a longer process for evaluating summer interns; you may need to start looking for a position early in the Spring Semester. Some summer internships will be out of town; these will normally be well paid, and offer some travel and relocation assistance. The Summer Internships are offered in the Summer Semester.
- Academic Internships may be taken more than once. In fact, this is desirable in order to learn about additional career opportunities and to gain more professional experience. It may also be necessary to sign up for this internship more than once in order to complete the required 180 hours of work experience mandated by national accreditation.
You must be registered in the EOH 494B during the semester (or interim or summer session) in which the work experience takes place.
Completion of EOH 356A, 356B and 466A is necessary for acquiring sufficient background before signing up for the internship. It should be noted that paid internships are more readily available for those who have also completed EOH 466B, L.
An internship in Environmental and Occupational Health is offered to graduate and undergraduate students by private businesses and public agencies to provide a practical employment experience. The internship is designed to provide the students with first-hand knowledge and experience in environmental and occupational health in an applied setting. This will assist students in developing a more realistic expectation of working life and enable the student to more effectively identify and fulfill career goals.
What is an Internship?
An internship experience helps to prepare California State University, Northridge (CSUN) students for positions in business, industry and government. The internship experience provides and opportunity for the student to apply classroom and laboratory principles and theories into an actual work place situation while receiving guidance and supervision from experienced and knowledgeable industry, business or government personnel. The first-hand work experience helps to bridge the gap between the classroom and a more real world situation. The internship program is essentially a laboratory experience utilizing the facilities of the industry, business or government, and allows the intern to receive academic credit for the work experience. The basic structure of the internship program provides a cooperative relationship between CSUN, the student and the employer.
Advantages to Industry, Government or Business
- The internship program is an excellent source of temporary and potential permanent employees.
- Interns can provide new ideas, concepts and insights that will have value to the company.
- Interns can be thoroughly grounded in established employer practices and organization while they are still at a formative level.
- Interns serve as “goodwill ambassadors” for employer’s organization with faculty and other students upon returning to campus.
- The internship provides the student and employer an opportunity to evaluate prospective employment.
Obligations of Participating Employers
Appoint an individual with knowledge and experience in safety, industrial hygiene, fire science or security to supervise the leaning work experience and serve as a resource to the intern.
- Enrich the learning experience of the intern by providing exposure to a variety of assignments and responsibilities.
- Provide the department internship coordinator with an evaluation of the intern’s performance. Here is a sample form, but any format will be gratefully accepted.
- Alert the intern and the internship coordinator to any problems.
Obligations of the Internship Coordinator
- Maintain Contact with the employer to monitor progress of the intern.
- Facilitate employer interviews and internship selection.
- Assign final grade (credit / no credit) for the completed internship.
Obligations of the Intern
- Perform workplace activities in a professional manner with due regard to the ethical conduct consistent with the environmental and occupational health profession.
- Maintain a record of total hours worked on the internship. All students must document a minimum of 180 hours on one or more internships.
- Alert the internship coordinator of any potential problems.
- Submit, at the completion of the internship, a brief, typed summary of the internship experience and its strengths and weakness, recommendations for future internships with this organization, and a self evaluation of personal strength/skills and weakness identified during the internship.
The Intern’s Relationship to the Employer
The intern is a temporary employee of the company. Internships may be paid or unpaid; in either case, the intern is making a commitment of time and effort to the employer, and vice verse. Firms normally treat prospective interns as they would any other job applicant. The cooperating firm uses its own employment criteria in deciding whether to accept or reject an intern.
Eligibility
Undergraduate Students enrolled in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, are encouraged to apply for an internship after completing EOH 356A, 356B and 466A.
Graduate Students, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and admitted to a graduate program, are eligible for an internship if they have completed EOH 356A, 356B and 466A.
Academic Credit
The internship sessions run for approximately 1 semester (16 weeks). The internship earns two credits per semester. All internship documents must be received by the end of exam week for the semester to receive credit for that semester. All EOH majors are expected to accumulate a minimum of 180 hours of internship experience for all internships. It is not necessary to accumulate these hours on a single internship.