Guidelines for preparations of undergraduate fieldwork proposals in Liberal Arts and Sciences
A student may take up to 15 credits of any combination of fieldwork and independent study toward the 120 credits required for graduation.
Responsibility for creating a fieldwork proposal rests with the student and the faculty sponsor. The student must present the faculty sponsor with an up-to-date student transcript which will be attached to the proposal. The chair of the academic department in which the course is to be offered is responsible for reviewing the qualifications of the student and the content of the course. If the course is approved by the faculty sponsor and the chair, the associate dean will review the written proposal and, if appropriate, interview the student or faculty sponsor.
All projects will be evaluated by the faculty sponsor in writing at both the midterm and final exam period of the semester.
Forms for the submission of proposals are available at the Records & Registration site. They require approval by the faculty sponsor, the student’s faculty advisor, the chair of the department offering the Fieldwork, and the faculty associate dean.
- Students proposing to do fieldwork involving agencies on or off campus must have completed 30 credits toward the degree with a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 and a grade point average of 3.0 in courses taken in the major department (and in the department offering the Fieldwork credit, if they are different). Transfer students must have completed one full semester and meet the GPA requirements.
- The fieldwork must be related to one of the students’ primary areas of interest, with appropriate prerequisite academic, on-campus courses or corequisites taken in conjunction with the fieldwork.
- The proposal must describe the responsibilities of the student at the site in detail. It must include the number of hours the student is to work each week, the tasks the student is to perform and the methods by which the student’s performance will be evaluated. Learning outcomes must be specified. The site supervisor’s name, complete address, and telephone number must be included.
- The number of credits the fieldwork is for should be included on the form. Normally students work 45 hours per credit over the course of the semester (e.g., 3 credits = 135 hours). The designation of whether these are liberal arts credits are assigned in the dean’s office. Ordinarily they are designated as liberal arts if there is work outside of the internship that involves research, reading or creative work resulting in a paper or equivalent that is connected to the fieldwork.
- The student is required to complete appropriate written assignments in association with the fieldwork assignment. The proposal should include a description of those assignments, and the way they will be evaluated. Usually this involves a journal or blog to report daily activities and a self-reflective paper of what was learned on site.
- The faculty sponsor will become acquainted with the supervisor before approving the proposal and procure an evaluation of the student by the onsite supervisor at both midterm and final exam time.
- Once enrolled, the student will need to fill out the placement site information through my.newpaltz.edu for Career Resource Center data collection.
