For my academic internship I enrolled in IDS 368 – Internship Interdisciplinary Studies – during the summer of 2019. I was able to obtain this internship through membership in the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP). After a series of interviews, I received a number of offers for Student Affairs positions at Valdosta State University, Eastern Michigan University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the University of Tennessee Knoxville. I chose to conduct my 6 credit, 300 hour internship at UNC Greensboro in their department of Housing and Residence Life as a Coordinator for Residence Life from May 13, 2019 – August 6, 2019. 

In my role as a Coordinator for Residence Life at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, I was able work on special projects for the department of Housing and Residence Life, contribute to administrative committees in their Division of Student Affairs, present and table at professional development conferences, gain exposure to the field of student affairs through shadowing opportunities, and network with professionals from a number of higher education institutions across South East Region of the country. Detailed descriptions and examples of my work can be found below:

This PowerPoint summarizes my NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program internship experience, highlights the work I was able to complete, and reveals the lessons I learned during my internship at the University of North Carolina Greensboro:

To-Be-a-Spartan-The-NUFP-Perspective

One component of this academic internship course, IDS 368, was to write a 15 – 20 page, semi-research and semi-experience paper that unpacks the leadership opportunities during the internship. In this assignment, I was instructed to align my experiences with the key areas of leadership in my interdisciplinary undergraduate studies—including ethics, law, communication, and others disciplines. The final product of this assignment can be found below:

The-Leadership-Internship-Experience-of-Christopher-Spellman-at-the-University-of-North-Carolina-Greensboro-in-their-Division-of-Student-Affairs