Engineering Career Services
Services to Students
Co-ops, Internships, and Summer Employment

It is an objective of the College of Engineering that all graduates will have relevant engineering work-related experience prior to graduation.

Experiential Education work experiences combine classroom studies with supervised work experiences.  Students are employed by industry, business and government organizations in positions related to their major field of study.  Students must be employed and compensated by the company they will be work for, not a third party agency.  Students complete the same requirements for the bachelor's degree while acquiring valuable practical work experience and demonstrated workplace skills.

The College of Engineering has three different programs in which students can acquire practical work experience.

Program Definitions

Cooperative Education: Alternating periods of full-time academic college training with periods of full-time work experience of approximately equal length.  At least one calendar year equivalent of institutionally supervised work experience is required; therefore, a minimum of two semesters and one summer is required.  (Note:  This experience cannot include back to back semesters in the same academic year.)

Internship:  A single work period of institutionally supervised full-time employment of at least one semester. This experience should not include back to back semesters in the same academic year, but instead one semester, or one semester plus one summer.  

Summer: A single work period of institutionally supervised, engineering related, full-time employment of at least 10 weeks.

In all of these programs, students are provided with planned pre-professional work assignments for pay.  They remain with the same employer throughout the program, and are enrolled as full-time students in a non-fee, non-credit course.  In order to continue in the program, students are expected to maintain a satisfactory academic and disciplinary record while attending classes at the university, and a satisfactory work record while employed.

Student Benefits

  • Increases competitive edge for full-time employment
  • Enhances career exploration and clarification of professional goals
  • Compliments classroom learning with practical work experience
  • Develops greater responsibility and self-confidence
  • Improves interpersonal and communication skills
  • Creates a process of development, assessment, and continuous professional growth