An internship is a structured educational experience, which incorporates productive work experience as a part of a college student’s curriculum. An internship is a partnership between the student, community site organization and the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Through this experience, students are provided opportunities to enhance their academic knowledge and improve their basic skills, test career choices, develop professional competence, and witness classroom theories and principles being applied in real world situations; in return, the community site organization benefits by having a bright, creative, and enthusiastic intern make a meaningful contribution to the organization. In addition, a supervised internship provides the opportunity to log required clinical hours when applying to medical and allied health graduate programs.
Internship Courses
Currently, there are two internship courses offered through the Health and Wellness Department: HWP 380 (elective for Pre-health majors) and HWP 480 Advanced Internship.
HWP 380 Internship in Health and Wellness Promotion (3)
Students are placed in a supervised health and wellness promotion program that relates to their career goals and learning objectives. Requirements may include readings, a major project, biweekly seminars and final presentation. Students must complete a minimum of 120 hours during this class. Prerequisites: HWP 190 or permission of instructor. Spring, Fall and Summer.
HWP 480 Advanced Internship in Health and Wellness Promotion (3)
Students are placed in an organization and provided with professional supervision for advanced skill development. Requirements may include progress reports; a major project that includes research or project management and demonstrated leadership skills; a culminating report; and a final presentation. Students who qualify for this advanced internship placement do so on the basis of academic standing, career choice, and personal interview. Students must complete a minimum of 90 hours during this class. Prerequisites: HWP 380 or permission of instructor. Spring and Summer.
Types of Internships
Clinical/Rehabilitation Services
For those students preparing for a graduate program in a variety of traditional health occupations such as medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dentistry, registered dietician, pharmacy, physician assistant, nursing as well as health occupations such as naturopathy, acupuncture/TCM, chiropractor, etc. Sites include hospitals, in-patient and out-patient clinics, and community-based free clinics.
Fitness
For those students who wish to intern at a community or corporate site offering fitness-related experiences. These experiences may include conducting fitness assessments, coordinating incentive events, providing personal training, teaching fitness classes, etc. Sites include: local club industry, YMCA, YWCA, after school fitness programs, and for-profit personal training companies.
Health Promotion/Public Health
For those students interested in providing health education or wellness coaching to a specific population or on a specific topic in health and wellness including corporate wellness and college health programs, among others. Sites include: health departments, spas, local for profit and nonprofit businesses and hospitals/clinics.
Non-Profit
For those students interested in working with and learning from interning in a non-profit organization. Examples of activities include: fund-raising, program/event planning, marketing, advocacy and policy development and other duties related to the non-profit organization’s mission. Sites include: QuestionWhy; YES; ChildrenFirst; YMCA; YWCA; ASAP; FEAST; WNCAP; and others.
Internship Procedures – For Students
Students who are considering enrolling in the HWP380 Internship in Health and Wellness Promotion course for one of the next two semesters will need to fill out the Health and Wellness Promotion Internship Enrollment Application form during pre-registration advising prior to enrolling in HWP380 Internship in Health and Wellness Promotion. This form will be submitted to your advisor and the internship instructor for approval. You will receive notification from the instructor concerning your enrollment in this course.
Application Deadlines
- May 10 for Summer
- August 10 for Fall
- December 10 for Spring
Internship Requirements
- Junior or senior standing (60 hours completed at the end of the current semester)
- 15 credit hours in the major completed with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
- Approval of your major advisor.
- Permission of the instructor.
Be sure to begin exploring where you would like to intern a few semesters before you are signing up for the course. Other useful steps to take are: attend several Internship Celebrations, talk with current and former interns, and contact the internship instructor or speak with your faculty advisor about your interests.
Once you have been enrolled in the HWP380 Internship in Health and Wellness Promotion course the instructor will ask you to complete an Internship Agreement.
Internship Procedures – For Potential Internship Sites
Thank you for your interest in becoming an internship site for UNC Asheville students. The basic requirements to become an Internship Site for UNC Asheville Health and Wellness Promotion students include:
- Your willingness and ability to support student learning by providing the student supervised, educational experiences that align with the mission of your organization.
- Your willingness and ability to select a site supervisor who will take responsibility for assisting the student with her/his learning (signing and supporting a learning contract); complete midpoint and final evaluations of the student; and support the student in completing a leadership project. This project can and should assist the organization in achieving its goals but also allows the student to take a major role in the development and implementation of this project. Examples vary greatly by internship site and by the specific needs of the student. Projects must be approved by both the site supervisor and internship instructor.
We would be glad to share your organization’s internship opportunity with the instructor for the HWP Internship class who will review the opportunity for fit with currently enrolled students. If you would like, we can also share your information with all of the HWP students. Please send your position description(s) to Katie Cox kcox1@unca.edu.
In order to reach all students on campus we recommend posting the internship position on Handshake, which is accessed through the Career Center website. Handshake allows you to indicate if a posting is for a job or internship. You will also be able to include information on the type of internship (paid, unpaid, credit-bearing).