Old Dominion University has established a new office focused on helping students secure internships.

The university created the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office this summer and has hired Barbara Blake Gonzalez as its executive director. The new office was created to help the university meet one of its strategic goals of having 100% of students participate in a work-based learning opportunity before graduating. Blake said the goal applies to all students, including those seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees, as well as certificates. The university aims to reach this goal by 2027.

Blake, who previously was chief administrative officer of the Strome College of Business’ Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, said the new office will centralize the internship system. She said students in some programs, such as those in the education and health sciences fields, already participated in internships and practicums as part of their degree requirements.

Blake said she will spend the first few months “taking inventory” of all the existing work-based learning opportunities being offered on campus and identifying which students are not being reached.

Blake said work-based learning experiences complement what students are learning in the classroom.

“It’s really going to bring that learning to life,” she said.

Gregory Wilson, a cybersecurity student at ODU, is completing an internship with Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab this summer. In his role, he helps design and conduct cybersecurity-themed camps for K-12 students.

Wilson, who said the university helped him find the opportunity, thinks that internships can be one of the most important elements of an education.

“Especially for maybe a kid that hasn’t had a job, it gives you such valuable skills dealing with people,” he said.

Wilson said soft skills, like communication and time management, can be just as important as the technical skills students learn in the classroom.

Brian Payne, vice provost for academic affairs at ODU, said the work-based learning goal that is part of the strategic plan came about after a series of focus groups that ODU President Brian Hemphill conducted with students, alumni, business leaders and community stakeholders.

“In those focus groups, one of the themes that came out was the opportunity to re-imagine how we do experiential learning, and how we can be a pillar in terms of developing programs that help students learn, that meet the needs of the community, and that help to keep (students) here in our region as well.”

Payne said part of the work of the new office will be to make sure “we’re working with employers in a way that we make the placement of the student as seamless as possible.” He said that means that both the student and the site that is hosting the student are prepared for the internship.

“What we don’t want is to put students in a particular place where they’re not actually working and learning,” Payne said.

Blake said the office will also examine some of the barriers, such as unpaid work, that can prevent students from completing internships.

“Unpaid work is a barrier,” she said. “So in order to improve that pipeline to internships, we need to closely reexamine the unpaid internships and what can we do for compensation.”

Blake said students are welcome to stop by the office, which is in the Academic Success Center, between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students can also contact the office by phone at 757-683-JOBS or send an email to internship@odu.edu.

Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com