All Family and Consumer Sciences majors are required to complete FCS 398: Professional Practice. This is a 120-hour internship experience, typically completed in a student's junior or senior year. Professional Practices experiences must occur over a minimum of 8 weeks and hours cannot begin until corresponding semester has started.
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Prerequisites
In order to qualify for FCS 398, students must meet the following prerequisties:
- A minimum of 60 hours completed
- Completion of FCS 300a04
- Minimum 2.0 GPA
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Applications
The Professional Practice application is available on the FCS Advising Canvas page.
Students are responsible for finding an internship site that aligns with their career goals and professional interests. Students may not enroll for FCS 398 on their own and can expect to receive a confirmation email once the applications have been processed.
Per CIDA standards, Interior Design FCS 398 applications must have a site supervisor who has a degree in design. Applications that fail to meet this criteria will be denied.
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Purpose
The Professional Practice course has five main purposes:
- To provide the student with on-the-job work experience that will allow for a variety of management / supervisory learning opportunities.
- To allow the student to apply his or her capabilities and academic learning on the job.
- To develop interpersonal skills.
- To develop positive/professional attitudes.
- To encourage closer cooperation between the FCS Department and the government, business, agency, or industry with whom the student is working.
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Professional Practice Areas
Interior Design students often find internships in the following areas:
- Corporate office design
- Design of environments for special populations
- Historic preservation
- Residential design
- Restaurant design
- Retail store design
- Hotel design
- Health care design