Undergraduate Internships

BIO 300 & 301 & 302 = Internships for Credit

ALL INTERNSHIPS MUST BE SET UP WITH THE APPROPRIATE COORDINATOR PRIOR TO BEGINNING WORK, IN ORDER TO COUNT FOR COURSE CREDIT.

Biology Internship (Bio 300) and Microbiology Internship (Bio 301) and Environmental Health Internship (Bio 302) are intended to give students opportunities to work in off-campus settings, both in the public and private sector, to further their understanding of biology and of various career pathways in - or closely related to - the biological sciences.

Some internships provide income in addition to college credit.  

Internship credits count as upper-division elective credits for majors in this Department.

Internship Coordinators

Credit Values & Limits

• Paid internships: about 135 hours are required for every 1 credit of Bio 300 or 301 or 302.
  
• Unpaid internships: about 67 hours are required for every 1 credit of Bio 300 or 301 or 302.
• Per semester: maximum of 3 credits of Bio 300 and/or 301 and/or 302.
• Per career at UW Oshkosh: maximum of 6 credits of Bio 300 and/or 301 and/or 302.

Required Internship Activities

Bio 300 and 301 and 302 students are required to:

1. Keep a daily (typed) journal of the activities performed during the internship.
   
2. Keep a daily log of hours worked.
   
3. Write a 2-3 page (typed) essay that summarizes the internship experience and describes how this experience contributed to the student’s professional development. 
   
4. The internship coordinator will contact the supervisor for an evaluation of the student’s performance after the internship is complete.

The journal, the hours worked documentation, essay, and evaluation by the supervisor must be received by the internship coordinator by the last day of the semester in which the student is enrolled in Bio 300 or 301 or 302.  If these materials are not received by the internship coordinator by the end of the semester, the student will get an Incomplete (see University Bulletin or Academic Policies web page regarding the consequences of Incomplete grades).

How Internships are Evaluated for a Grade

Coming soon.

Recent Examples of Internships

• medical scribe at an Appleton hospital,
• field biologist at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,
• field assistant at the National Park Service,
• physical therapy assistant at Affinity Health System,
• doctor assistant at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Fox Valley,
• intern at the NEW Zoo,
• assistant at the Oshkosh Humane Society,
• intern at Kimberly-Clark,
• positions at a variety of local health departments, state laboratory of hygiene, and wastewater treatment plants,
• intern at Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation,
• research assistant at Bowling Green State University,
• research assistant at UW Madison, and
• assistant at Heckrodt Nature Center.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find an internship?
There are many ways to approach this.  Many internship opportunities are advertised.  Bulletin boards in Halsey, such as the ones outside of the Biology/Microbiology office (HS 142) and across from HS 150, are good places to look for advertised positions.  

There are a number of useful websites that list internship and other job opportunities at the national level. For example, Texas A&M has a good one for positions in the fields of ecology and environmental science: http://wfsc.tamu.edu/jobboard/index.htm.  A good source for healthcare related internships is http://wisc-ahec.typepad.com/chip/. The National Science Foundation offers a program called Research Experience for Undergraduates, which provides stipends for students to do research in various labs and field stations throughout the United States (see http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/).

Students can also directly contact potential employers to inquire about internship possibilities.   

This is generally discouraged, unless the student can make a strong case that the primary activities performed during the two internships are qualitatively different.  Continuations may be acceptable under certain circumstances however (e.g. 1 credit during summer + 2 credits during fall)

If I have identified an internship, how do I proceed?
The first step is to contact Dr. Bob Stelzer (stelzer@uwosh.edu) or Dr. Sabrina Mueller-Spitz (muellesr@uwosh.edu) to arrange a meeting.  At this meeting, you will be given an internship application.  Return the completed application to either Dr. Stelzer or Mueller-Spitz.  We will then send a form to your prospective employer that includes questions about the type of work you would be doing during the internship and how it would relate to your knowledge of biology. 

After we receive a satisfactorily-completed form, we will ask that you visit Connie Whittaker, Program Assistant in the Biology & Microbiology Office (HS 142).  With our approval, Mrs. Whittaker can enroll you in Bio 300 or Bio 301.