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Fall 2012
The Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the School of Communication
SOC gets an internship makeover
Photo by Stacey McKnight
By: Stacey McKnight A number of new notebooks sit in Dr. Pamela Hopkins’ office at East Carolina University. They rest in a row on a black bookshelf and look like typical 3-ring binders from the outside. However, these notebooks are different from the other notebooks, folders and papers in Hopkins’ office. They are the portfolios of the student interns Hopkins worked with this summer, and she will be receiving more portfolios this semester. Hopkins is the new internship coordinator for the School of Communication at ECU and responsible for overseeing SOC students who are completing for-credit internships. Hopkins, who also teaches online and face-to-face communication courses, began serving as coordinator this summer and sees the SOC’s internship program as a valuable opportunity for students. “It provides students with reallife experience,” she says. “They’re not just making coffee and filing
Hopkins, who also teaches communication courses, began serving as coordinator this summer.
papers. They’re learning the skills we’ve taught them in the classroom.” The internship program is important, says Hopkins, because a majority of the places where current students intern require students to earn course credit for the internship. This semester SOC students are interning in diverse organizations, which range from the American Red Cross to Madison Square Garden, according to Hopkins. Hopkins explains that to earn
class credit for internships, SOC students must enroll in a special internship course, establish learning goals, complete a series of online assignments, and meet with her at least twice during the semester of their internship. Hopkins says at some of these meetings students are “bubbling over” with excitement
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