Certificate students that have identified their own internship opportunity with a public health focus and/or global health dimensions and wish to have it satisfy their field experience requirement can apply for approval.  Students yet to complete Nutr Sci 203 are not eligible to propose independent field experiences. Students are expected to make the request a minimum of 2 months prior to the start of the proposed internship, consulted with their advisor, and reviewed the criteria below before submitting the field experience exception form.  Not all exception requests are approved.  Students in the major are not allowed to propose independent field experiences to count as depth courses.

Independent field experience internships must carry UW-Madison academic credit, and for opportunities without credit students will need to enroll in a separate internship course.  Students commonly enroll in Inter-LS 260 for domestic internships and Intl St 523 for international internships.  To be eligible for Inter-LS 260, independent internships must include a minimum of 96 work/contact hours over 12 weeks during the semester, or a minimum of 64 work/contact hours over 8 weeks during the summer.   To be eligible for Intl St 523, independent internships must include a minimum of 100 work/contact hours over a minimum of 4 weeks.  Field experience credit must be earned concurrently with the internship and within the same term.

Approved independent field experiences must have:

• A public health or global health focus, rather than a medical or clinical focus
• Involve direct and meaningful engagement with community partners and/or practitioners
• Supervision from a mentor who understands the position is to be educational and not just volunteering
• A well-defined project with clear goals and tasks

The following independent exception requests are unlikely to be approved:

• Medical/clinical shadowing
  • not eligible for credit, and not academic in scope
• Voluntourism or mission trips
  • not eligible for credit, and problematic due to ethical concerns and lack of oversight
• Lab research
  • may be eligible with the right mentor and project, but in general lab research does not provide the context or engagement to count as a field experience

Sample of organizations/programs that past students have worked with on independent field experiences:

• Clean Lakes Alliance
• Clean Wisconsin
• Madison Senior Center
• Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin
• United Way of Dane County
• Wisconsin Area Health Education Centers (CHIP Program)
• Wisconsin PATCH
• Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Independent Field Experience Exception Request Form

Before submitting the form students should know:

• Name of the organization
• Name, role, and contact information of their supervisor
• What projects and tasks they will be involved with
• Who they will be engaging with
• How the internship relates to public/global health
• The duration of the internship (how many weeks total and hours/week)
• How they will earn UW-Madison credit