Non-Profit Minor Internships

The minor in Non-Profit Organizations provides you with the opportunity to gain the skills you will need to work at the local, national, or international level, engaging communities, stakeholders, and public institutions to do the good work that needs getting done! In addition to required coursework, the minor has an "experiential learning" component, which you can fulfill through independent study, an additional service-learning course, or – our most popular option – an internship. If you are interested in pursuing other options to meet your "experiential learning component, please contact the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.

If your major requires an internship, or you are wanting to take an internship for credit within your major as an elective, you do not need to complete a second internship for the minor, as long as you are interning with a non-profit organization. If you feel that your internship for your major should count for your minor as well, you should talk with your major advisor to make sure that your major allows "double counts." If your major approves, you should follow whatever steps your major requires to get your internship approved. Once your internship shows up as a registered course: you should email Dr. Maria Pramaggiore, Department Chair (pramaggioremt@appstate.edu) with the name of the organization you are interning with and the course prefix and number for your internship in major. We will then link your major internship to your non-profit minor as well.

You must get your internship approved prior to starting your internship if you want to receive academic credit!

Don't worry--it's not hard! You do need to plan ahead, so the sooner you get started the better. You should start looking for internship opportunities at the start of the semester prior to when you want to intern. That will give you plenty of time to research your options, apply to the organization, and get the appropriate departmental and university approvals in place before your internship term begins.

Once you have found, applied to, and been accepted for an internship, here is what you need to do:

Step-by-Step Approval Guide

  1. Your internship site supervisor should email Dr. Maria Pramaggiore the following information:
    1. Your internship duties
    2. Your total hours of internship activity. Note:  for a 3 s.h. internship, you will need to complete 120-150 hours over the course of the semester
    3. An affirmation that the agency is a not-for-profit institution.
  2. Identify an App State faculty member who will be willing to serve as your internship advisor. It can be an IDS faculty member, but it could also be any faculty member willing to serve in this capacity. Often it makes sense to ask a faculty member in your major, but not always.
  3. Complete this DATA SHEET (DOCX, 15 KB). We cannot begin processing your internship until we receive all of the information on this sheet. If you have any questions about the required information, email the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. We recommend you complete this step before the end of the semester prior to when your internship starts.
  4.  Once we receive the completed data sheet and the statement of internship duties from your site supervisor, we will generate a contract. You will need to sign that contract and your site supervisor will have to sign it as well.
  5. Return your signed contract to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.  
  6. Once we receive your signed contract, and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences approve your internship, you will be automatically registered for IDS 3900. We must have all signatures and all approvals, at all levels prior to the end of the add/drop period.

Remember as well that you cannot begin your internship until you have all approvals in place and you are registered for your internship course. Your internship also cannot "straddle" semesters, so it is important you have accurate start and end dates on your internship. That is a university policy, related to how our insurance policies work.

Interdisciplinary Studies
Living Learning Center
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
Dr. Maria Pramaggiore, pramaggioremt@appstate.edu