Name: Beverly W. Dominick
Title: Internship and placement coordinator
Department: School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Background: Native of Jefferson City, Tenn.; bachelor's degree, physical education, Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City; master's degree, education, USC; former physical education faculty member, Sumter High School; former corporate news recruiter with Gannett Co., Inc, McLean, Va.; The State newspaper in Columbia; and The Tampa Tribune in Florida. Joined the School of Journalism and Mass Communications in July 2006.

Tell us about your job: I'm responsible for working with students who are looking for credit and non-credit internships. I work with companies that are looking for interns they can share their corporate expertise with. I try to make sure that the internships are what we want for our students, that the interns are well supervised, and that the internships will allow students to observe the business rather than being part of the workforce. We've been delighted with this arrangement because we have some great companies to work with.

How many students do you place in internships each year? On average we have about 150 students per year who are doing internships for credit. We don't track non-credit internships because we don't have a mechanism to do that, but we probably have an equal number of students doing them as well.

The school does not require an internship to graduate, but we do offer internships for credit as an elective, and we encourage our students to get as many internships as possible because they help students prepare for a job.

When do the students do the internships? Year 'round. We have some doing them during the semester while they're taking classes, but the largest numbers are in the summer. We have five majors so we have a variety of opportunities for students, and not all of them are in Columbia. Other internships are in Atlanta and New York, and abroad, in an up-and-coming internship program that is attracting lots of students.

How important are internships to an undergraduate's educational experience? I think they're crucial. From my experience as a recruiter, I know if an employer is looking at a resume and has an open position he or she would be more likely to hire someone who has had several internships as opposed to someone who has not had any.

How does the school help with placement of its graduates after graduation? We don't have formal placement office, but we do have a job database for new and recent graduates. I'm always working with companies that have openings and getting those listings out to our alumni. We also sponsor two career fairs, in the fall and spring. We have more than 40 companies coming to our spring job fair March 1 to interview students for jobs and internships.

What do you do to unwind? I like gardening, and I've been painting and redecorating a new house. I also love to read, particularly mysteries. That's my escapism.

1/07