Communication Internships

Communication student at an internship.

Gain Real-World Experience with Communication Internships

Gain valuable real-world experience and take the next step toward your career with a Communication internship at Westfield State University. Internships allow students to apply classroom knowledge, develop professional skills, explore career paths, and build connections in fields such as media production, public relations, marketing, journalism, and more. With personalized guidance from the Department of Communication's dedicated Internship Coordinator and opportunities at organizations across the country, students can gain hands-on experience while earning academic credit. Explore the benefits, opportunities, and requirements below to learn how an internship can help prepare you for success after graduation.

What is an internship?

An internship is a real-world working experience, supervised by a professional, where you learn more about a career and the types of jobs in the field of communication. At the same time, an internship is a college course that comes with academic expectations and a faculty sponsor who guides you through a process of applying your course work to your professional experience.   

An internship may be paid or unpaid, but students who complete an internship through the university receive academic credit and a grade for the course. 

What is the value of an internship?

More than ever, employers are looking for candidates with both a college degree and professional experience. In addition to offering a path to a job, internships offer an opportunity: 

  • To apply the knowledge and skills you have learned in our classes and to develop new marketable skills. 
  • To explore different professions and gain a better sense of what you do and don’t like in a job. 
  • To learn how a professional workplace operates and to develop the “soft” professional skills needed in the workplace. 
  • To build your professional network and find both mentors and references. 
  • To build your resume and develop your portfolio. 

The Westfield State University Difference

WSU students have been able to intern at amazing sites because our students have an internship coordinator who knows the field of communication! 

Westfield State University communication students have interned at hundreds of sites around the country, and we are adding new sites all the time.  

These include opportunities to work in public relations and marketing, media production, social media management, journalism, event planning, and organizational communication for major media outlets, sports organizations, not-for-profits, advertising and marketing firms, government agencies, and small businesses including: 

  • The Basketball Hall of Fame
  • New England Sports Network (NESN)
  • New England Public Media (NEPM)
  • Cloud 9 Marketing
  • WWLP-TV22
  • The Make-A-Wish Foundation
  • Lego Systems
  • MassLive City Stage/Symphony Hall, and
  • Many other desireable locations

I turned my spring internship into a part-time job with Springfield Business Associates (a non-profit agency that helps people with disabilities find employment). I also worked with Legacy Media and a start up in East Longmeadow.

Rowan '26

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Department of Communication at WSU have its own Internship Coordinator?

Yes! The Department of Communication at Westfield State University has a dedicated Internship Coordinator who provides personalized guidance and support to help students find and secure internship opportunities. The Internship Coordinator assists students throughout the process by:

  • Holds targeted information sessions for communication majors each semester.  
  • Meets one-on-one with students planning to apply for an internship in the coming semester providing them with  information on past internship sites and supporting students as they investigate new internship opportunities. 
  • Supports students through the application process including coordinating with the WSU Career Services to ensure students use of the career center to develop a resume, write a cover letter, and practice for an internship interview. 
  • Assigns a faculty sponsor to the student internship assuring a fit between faculty expertise and the professional setting. 
  • Provides communication majors with information about new internship sites on a regular basis. 
  • Introduces students to resources include the Career Center’s Handshake listing, which has sites all over the state and even the country, as well as sites like indeed.com. 
Can any communication major do an internship?

We value our relationship to the professional communication community, and we want our students to have a positive internship experience, so we work to ensure that students are well-prepared for the internship experience. All full-time communication majors who have attained at least sophomore status are eligible to apply. However, the following qualifying criteria are in place:

• be at sophomore, junior, or senior status

• have completed at least 27 credits of the Common Core

• have a minimum overall WSU GPA of 2.5

• have a communication major GPA of 3.0 or higher

• have completed at least 18 credits of communication courses

• have demonstrated maturity and professionalism in classes and other interactions

When is the best time to do an internship?
  • Communication majors are encouraged to consider seeking multiple internships, ranging from a few credits to more substantial ones, during their sophomore, junior, and senior years.
  • Students in their last semester of the senior year find the best potential to be hired at their internship site, because they can start the job right away after graduation. 
  • Many of our sites are very competitive: they want the best students and have many colleges that send them potential interns. It is important, therefore, to be thinking about internships as early as your first year at Westfield. Work hard to maintain a strong GPA Get involved in campus organizations. For example, if you want an internship at a newspaper and you spent four years at Westfield and didn’t write for the college paper, the site supervisor will wonder why. Westfield State is home to over 40+ student clubs and organizations, including a radio station, TV club, and photography club.