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Stephanie Sack & Josh Steinegger

COM 301 Final Proposal
4/23/2014
Proposal to Require an Internship for Business Majors
Currently, the Business program is the most common major for students to achieve while at
Wisconsin Lutheran College (US News, 2013). In order for this program to have continual
success, there needs to be continual improvement. The programs focus on internships is a key
area in which the school should further explore. Requiring Business majors to complete an
internship to graduate will help both the students and the school. Mandatory internships will
help Wisconsin Lutheran College stay on pace with competing private liberal arts college
programs. Additionally, these programs benefit the college through establishing relationships
with multiple companies within the community. Most importantly, requiring Business majors to
complete an internship assists students in finding successful jobs post-graduation through the
means of networking.

Benefits of Internships
The benefits of internships not only apply to the students of the college, but also to the
college itself, and the company hiring the interns.
The student will benefit from the internship by gaining work experience, earning credits
towards graduation, networking with area professionals, and developing skills learned in
the classroom.
The college will benefit from the internship by gaining a positive reputation from hard
working students, creating higher visibility when students are out in their fields,
strengthening ties to the community it is in, and by bettering the education of the students
that attend college.
The company will benefit from the internship by gaining positive, new energy from the
intern, utilizing the intern by offloading less important jobs, and exploring the creative
and fresh thinking coming from the intern.

Major Requirements of other Colleges
In order to better understand where WLCs internship program matches up with area
colleges, it was necessary to investigate the programs at these schools.
o Concordia University does not require internships at their school, but internships
done have the potential of earning three credits towards the students major. The
students must find the internship on their own, and must evaluate the experience
by writing a report.
o Carroll College has several majors that require internships, earning one to three
credits per internship, depending on its length and requirements. The students can
utilize the colleges internship opportunities program or find it on their own, and
must give a proposal to join the internship and an evaluation at the end of it. Only
Juniors and Seniors are able to intern.
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o Alverno College requires all graduates to have had an internship. Course credit is
given, and internships can be found through the colleges internship program. To
conclude the internship, the student must complete a poster for the Internship
Poster Event, and must complete the On-Campus seminar required for internships.
o Lawrence University has several majors that require internships, and students
must petition for course credit unless taking the existing intern course. Internship
coordinators are available to help find placements, and students must take the
accompanying Internship 101 course and write either a literature review, research
paper, or complete a weekly journal.

Current Internship Program at Wisconsin Lutheran College
All business internships are processed through the Business Internship Coordinator,
Heather Stelzer, and the students academic advisor.
Students are encouraged to find an available internship through a school promoted
website (WLC Career Connect) website or self-research.
During the fall semester of the 2013-2014 school year, the Business Department launched
a Business Internship Group on the student portal website myWLC. (Business
Internships, 2013)
o This myWLC group assists Professor Stelzer communicate effectively with a
larger number of Business majors and provides a quicker response time of filling
available internships (Stelzer, 2014).
o Students can easily join this group and complete an Internship Interest form
which will notify the student if an appealing internship is available.
Common Business internships that Wisconsin Lutheran College is affiliated with are
Thrivent, Direct Supply, Gillman Company, Target, YMCA, WELS Kingdom Workers,
Coqui Design, Wisconsin State Fair, and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Proposed Changes to the Internship Program at Wisconsin Lutheran College
The hiring of an additional Business Internship Coordinator, in order to complement
Professor Stelzers skills, is essential with the higher demand of students needing
internships.
The implementation of a mandatory Pre-Internship course, strictly for Business Majors,
will improve the success of the program.
o The class would be run by either one of the Business Internship Coordinators.
o It would be a one credit course that meets once a week.
o The course is intended to be taken during a students first semester of their Junior
year.
o It would stress the importance of internships, inform Business majors on the
application process, where to locate internships, how to receive course credits,
and encourage discussions between teacher and student.
o Additionally, the professor would inform the students on business etiquette,
culture of the workplace, overview the different areas of business, and encourage
guest speakers to attend.
o Course effectiveness will be evaluated through an electronic Course Evaluation
Survey.
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Business Department Coordinators would search for more internship opportunities that
would be routinely affiliated with Wisconsin Lutheran College.
o Talking to WLC Business professors to see what connections they have will
provide new internship opportunities.
o These steps would assist in making Wisconsin Lutheran College a more
recognizable name in the workforce.
Coordinators would strongly suggest Business majors to attend various internship fairs.

Financial/Budget Impact
The cost of adding an additional staff member would be the main expense of this
program.
The cost of the Pre-Internship course would be minimal due to small amounts of
materials needed for the class to be successful.

Resolution
The importance of increasing the impact of the Business Internship program will benefit
the future success of both the students and the school. Ultimately, the implementation of
this program rests in first the vote of the Business Department.