THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512270242
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 190 lines
Meredith Gilliard, an Old Dominion University communications major, considered working in public relations. But in the fall she interned at CBN's Christian World News.
Now, the junior envisions a career in TV production.
ODU senior Karynna Baresel, on the other hand, has been turned on to corporate PR after a semester at Norfolk Southern Corp.'s public relations office.
Patrick Dullaghan, a computer major who graduated last week, also interned at Norfolk Southern. The bonus for him: A full-time job at Norfolk Southern, starting next month as a computer programmer.
Hundreds more students are following their paths under ODU's new Career Advantage Program, which guarantees a one-semester internship to all interested undergraduates and prods them to think about career planning from their first year at college.
Since the program began during the summer, the number of students taking internships has risen from 385 to 609, or about 6 percent of the school's undergraduates, said Suzanne Martin, director of ODU's Career Management Center.
And last semester, ODU persuaded a variety of employers - from the Grand Affairs catering company to the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority - to begin offering internships, said Janis K. Smith, the associate director of the center.
``There were other colleges in the area, but it just seemed ODU had a momentum of their own,'' said Doug Barnett, finance director of the Chesapeake agency.
Perhaps ODU's biggest catch is NationsBank, which has agreed to give a handful of students internships next semester. Previously, the bank would bypass ODU students for those at the College of William and Mary, Martin told ODU board members earlier this month.
Acting President Jo Ann Gora, who helped spearhead the program, says everyone's a winner.
``It benefits the region by providing a talented pool of serious students,'' Gora said. ``It gives the employers a chance to test out the work force and develop some new projects. . . . And I am convinced it helps students figure out who they are and what they want to be.
``Even if they come out saying, `That's not what I want to do the rest of my life,' that's a very important experience.''
And, Martin said, it greatly improves their chances of getting a good job after graduation. She cited a recent Michigan State University survey which showed that 48 percent of students who had found full-time jobs after college previously had internships.
``Employers have been telling us for years, `Your students are awfully well prepared academically, but they don't have the real-world experience we need,' '' she said.
Students and employers both say they've benefited.
``I knew that I needed some experience before I went out into the real world,'' said Baresel, an English major, ``but I never would have known this as a possibility if it weren't for'' Smith, who hooked her up with Norfolk Southern.
From Barnett's perspective, ``It's given us somebody (senior Awa Meade) who's reliable, intelligent and can bring a fresh perspective to things we can do here. And it's not that expensive to us, because the salary is basically a starting clerical-type salary.''
Gora said that the other major component of the Career Advantage Program - a four-year plan for students that includes mock interviews and resume-writing seminars - is also important. ``This helps students start thinking about what to do the rest of their lives not in the spring of their senior year, but in the spring of their freshman year,'' she said.
ODU officials say that perhaps no other public research university in the country offers so extensive an array of career services. ``It certainly is unusual in Virginia,'' said Margaret A. Miller, associate director of the State Council of Higher Education. ``I don't know of any place that has those two programs. I think it could be a very important initiative.''
It's not just engineers who can land internships, Martin said. Students from a variety of disciplines have been placed in positions tailored to their interests. Some examples:
Terri Mellinger, a senior in philosophy, interned with a hospital review board that examined ethical issues in patient consent forms for operations.
Greg Steele, a junior in civil engineering, helped manage environmental projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Norfolk district.
Fernanda ``Isabel'' Moore, a senior in marketing, worked for Grand Affairs, scouting competitors' offerings and drawing a plan showing how Grand Affairs stacked up against them.
Most students say they weren't fed just clerical work. ``They took me to Roanoke,'' said Baresel, who wrote features for the monthly in-house publication at Norfolk Southern. ``They allowed me to go to meetings. They show you the business side of it. They don't just sit you at a desk.''
Mellinger was able to get forms changed. ``I found that most often researchers phrased things in multisyllabic terms that most people would not be able to decipher,'' she said.
Marjorie Mayfield, coordinator of the Elizabeth River Project, an environmental group where English major Jennifer Tuttle interned last summer, sees benefits for students beyond their areas of specialty.
``I do think it's a good way for them to be out in the real world, dealing with the public and learning to be responsible in a job and show up on time, how to answer the phone - things you don't learn in a classroom,'' she said.
Mayfield said Tuttle wasn't paid but got free lunch and parking. Sixty percent of interns, though, get salaries, Martin said. Baresel, for instance, earned the equivalent of $22,000 a year.
Martin said some departments have minimum grade-point averages - 2.5 in engineering, for instance - for students to be eligible for internships. But generally, the internships are intended not just for straight-A students. ``Not everyone is going to work for NationsBank, but I like to say, for every pot, there's a lid,'' she said.
For some students, the internships require 40 hours a week. That can delay their graduation a semester or two, but they think it's worth it. ``Even though this does extend my graduation date a year, I'm going to be more marketable than the average Joe who graduates,'' Baresel said.
Dullaghan, the computer major at Norfolk Southern, has an overall average slightly below a B, but he says the internship gave him the edge against students with higher grades: ``A lot of people go in with the mindset that only people with a 4.0 are going to get a job. But if I'm competing with somebody with a slightly higher GPA, this more than makes up for that.''
Dullaghan wasn't the only intern eligible for a big payoff. Steele's employers, at the Army Corps of Engineers, say he has a good shot of getting a job there after he graduates in '97. ``If anything needs to get done, Greg always volunteers to do it,'' said Francis Gilmore, a project manager. ``We're very impressed with the quality of his work.''
All of the interns get the equivalent of credit for one course. They are supervised by a faculty member and must write an evaluation of the internship.
Gora initially pushed for requiring all students to have internships, but the faculty resisted, saying it would be too time-consuming. ``Requiring it would have been an enormous burden on programs,'' said Lawrence J. Hatab, chairman of the philosophy department. ``Guaranteeing it means it's based on student interest.''
Martin said professors have been receptive to the program. Hatab said he's thinking about offering a research internship, where a student considering graduate school could team up with a faculty member on a project to get a taste of academic life.
The sociology and criminal justice department had previously sent students to internships at sites such as juvenile courts or women's shelters, professor Lucien X. Lombardo said, but the program has encouraged more to participate.
``The university is saying this is something that's important,'' Lombardo said. ``When students see it's university-wide, it gets their attention much faster and they're more likely to take advantage of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
Greg Steele, a junior in civil engineering, helped manage
environmental projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Norfolk
district.
JIM WALKER/The Virginian-Pilot
ODU senior Karynna Baresel wrote features for the monthly in-house
publication at Norfolk Southern.
Graphic
PLANNING A CAREER
These are some of the ways Old Dominion University's Career
Advantage Program helps students plan for careers:
Deciding which route. Counselors help direct freshmen into
appropriate careers based on their past interests. ``Were you the
one who sold Girl Scout Cookies or the one who kept track of Mary
selling 35 boxes?'' said Suzanne Martin, director of ODU's Career
Management Center.
``We want them to value the things they do well and recognize
what they are and how we can use that in a career so that, God
forbid, if we get a job, we'll enjoy it.''
The office also has a computer program called Discover: Students
can punch in their interests and find a list of suitable
professions.
Networking. The office encourages students to hook up with
employers early. In their sophomore year, for instance, Martin
suggests that they contact five people with ``neat jobs'' and ask
them what they do.
Business etiquette clinics. The center offers clinics on how to
handle sticky situations with potential employers. For instance,
what if you're at a restaurant and your boss-to-be blows a cloud of
cigarette smoke in your vicinity? (The answer, Martin said, is to
grin and bear it if you want the job.)
Or, what happens if the waiter gives you the check and you
expected the boss to pay for it? Answer: Don't offer to pay or push
it in the employer's direction. Just wait till the boss picks it up.
Martin says that's sometimes done to test the applicant's behavior
in a stressful situation.
Mock interviews. In students' upperclass years, they practice
interviews with counselors, who help prepare them for questions such
as ``Tell me something you've accomplished.''
``You don't want the most important interview in your life to be
the first one you have,'' Martin said. She hopes to get a video
camera next year so students can study the videos of their
interviews at home.
by CNB