CCWT Videos

NOTE: Claudia’s (the CCWT Student Intern) audio is patchy at the beginning of this video, but the rest of the sound, including the presenters’, is clear throughout the video.

Work-Based Learning: Paving the Way for Career Success through a General Education Course

Dr. Mita Banerjee & Kaila Bingen

University of WI-Parkside

January 2025

When structural barriers prevent students from participating in internships, institutions of higher education can offer alternative solutions to ensure equitable opportunities for all learners. This session will explore the conception, implementation, and continuous evaluation of a new experiential learning course that meets general education requirements. Utilizing a mixed-method design, presenters will share early positive outcomes from the UWP 294: Work-Based Learning course demonstrating how students develop crucial career readiness skills that enhance their future professional prospects. Utilizing a course model based on NACE career readiness competencies and best practices in experiential learning, participants will learn how students’ current work experiences scaffolded with relevant coursework can serve as a viable alternative to internships.

Webinar Slides Accessible Here

To learn more about their work, CLICK HERE to visit Mita’s and Kaila’s website.

May 2024

Not All Internships are Created Equal: Research Findings and Strategies to Enhance Internship Experiences and Outcomes

Dr. Ran Liu & Dr. Mindi Thompson

In this webinar, Dr. Ran Liu and Dr. Mindi Thompson delve into the critical disparities characterizing college students’ internship experiences and outcomes, focusing on differences in supervision quality, student satisfaction, paid vs. unpaid internships, and their impacts on career outcomes. Synthesizing findings from CCWT’s college internship study, data from the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI), and other literature, we discuss how these disparities also vary according to students’ socio-demographic backgrounds. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the prevalence of internship disparities and actionable insights on strategies to promote equitable internship experiences for all students.

Racialized Poverty Among College Students: Intersecting with First-Generation College Students Status and Paid Internship Opportunities

April 2024

Researchers and career counselors have become increasingly interested in understanding college students’ experiences of poverty and identifying the role of paid internship opportunities in poverty experiences based on structural, cultural, and historical dynamics. Drawing from data from CCWT, Dr. Kim will explain multidimensional poverty and display different structures and natures of poverty that college students experience across racial identities. She will also explain if first-generation college students are more vulnerable to racialized poverty and if paid internship opportunities would alleviate poverty experiences and provide reflection questions and future directions highlighting ways to support invisible student groups with intersecting identities.

Key words: College students, first-generation, poverty, race, internships, Early Career Scholar, Early Career Scholars

Congress in Black & White: How Racism Shapes Legislative Work & Careers – James Jones

February 2023

Dr. Jones is a leading expert on congressional staff diversity, and in this conversation with CCWT Co-Director Matthew Hora, Dr. Jones will talk about his research on congressional internships and implications for college students seeking careers in Washington, D.C. He is currently completing his first book, The Last Plantation, which represents the first major study of racial inequality in the congressional workplace. In addition, he has authored three groundbreaking policy reports on racial representation among congressional staff that demonstrate how racial minorities are underrepresented in both top and junior staff positions on Capitol Hill. His research has been covered by NPR, The Washington Post, and the Atlantic.

Exploring unpaid internships: Issues of access, equity, and learning

April 7, 2022

0:00:00 Panel 1:New research on unpaid internships

0:54:11 Panel 2: Fundraising to subsidize unpaid internships: How can employers, educators, and policymakers secure funds to pay all interns?

1:52:53 Panel 3: Campus based strategies for change: What are some success stories at the campus level for ensuring that all student interns are paid?

2:53:06 Breakout Session: Lightning rounds of more strategies for funding and supporting internships

4:01:19 Next Steps: Working session on developing a national strategy to address unpaid internships

CCWT Webinar Event with Corey Pech

April 14, 2021

In this webinar, CCWT Director Matthew Hora interviewed Dr. Corey Pech, a postdoctoral researcher in Sociology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Pech discussed his book project tentatively titled From College to Career. The book shows, that in fact, most Business and Engineering graduates move seamlessly into jobs that provide good pay but usually involve mundane office work. On the other hand, many English and Communications majors struggle to enter the labor market, and in their post-graduation jobs their skills (while being used) are not treated as valuable. Dr. Pech argues that these disparities arise from differential opportunities to internships that are only available to some majors and that the shift in higher education from promoting the general liberal arts to the more specific practical disciplines is a misguided practice.

CCWT Webinar Event with Jason Perry

March 19, 2021

In this webinar, CCWT Director Matthew Hora discussed the impact of sport management internship programs at historically black college and universities (HBCUs) with Dr. Jason Perry from Howard University. The webinar focused on the potential for the unique culture of HBCUs and students’ experiences and racial identities to impact how they experience an internship, and featured insights from Perry’s 2017 dissertation entitled “A Case Study Examining a Sport and Recreation Management Internship Program at a Historically Black University.”

CCWT Webinar Event with Alex Frenette

February 17, 2021

Drawing on survey data with 200,000 arts and design alumni, Dr. Alex Frenette from Vanderbilt University talked with CCWT Director Dr. Matthew Hora about the rise of paid and especially unpaid internships in the creative sector, how arts graduates feel about their internship experiences, how these alumni say higher education could improve internships going forward, and how gender may shape unequal intern-to-career pathways. Alexandre Frenette is an assistant professor of sociology and associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. Using the music industry as his case study, he is currently working on a monograph about the challenges and the promise of internships as part of higher education. His writing on artistic workers and the intern economy have won awards from the Society for the Study of Social Problems as well as the Labor and Employment Relations Association.