After years of planning, building and testing, BYU is launching its AIM-based internship tracking system. The Internship Registration and Management System — or IRAMS — registers students for internships and captures critical contact information so that BYU students anywhere in the world can be immediately contacted in case of emergency or natural disaster.
The system provides a mechanism for immediate contact to advise students of real or potential danger or threats and to recommend actions they should take to ensure personal safety. The system does not change the information of record on file with BYU, but it does capture contact information for those students who will be living and working elsewhere for the semester. The system also incorporates procedures to ensure compliance with university policies designed to protect the university as well as students and internship providers.
The academic vice president’s office recently notified deans and department chairs of training available for faculty and staff involved with internship registration. During the training, all department internship coordinators will be introduced to the system that will then be the university-wide procedure for winter 2010 registration beginning Oct. 26.
While all department internship coordinators were invited to attend the training sessions, other staff and faculty members who feel the need to be trained are also welcome to attend. Contact the Internship Office program coordinator, Adrienne Chamberlain, at ext. 2-1480 or adrienne_chamberlain@byu.edu for more information on the training sessions.
For the past six years, the University Internship Office, under the direction of Laurie Wilson, has worked with various offices in the university and with OIT to create the computerized registration system tied to AIM that will allow the university to capture contact information — including e-mail addresses and phone numbers — for every student enrolled in an internship.
IRAMS is seamlessly connected to the AIM registration system already in use and provides specific instruction to students through every step of internship registration and approval. Also built into the system is automatic notification to various university entities of a student’s intent to register, from the department internship coordinators to final approval in the internship office.
“IRAMS has been designed to allow the university to track registration in internships more carefully than ever before,” said Wilson. “It will help prevent problems that have previously occurred with the granting of retroactive credit or internships with experience providers that don’t have a master agreement with the university.”
Department internship coordinators will need to approve each student’s internship, and all international internships will be approved by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. The University Internship Office will then review all approved internships and ensure policy compliance.
IRAMS is now being tested by the College of Fine Arts and Communications.
For more information on BYU’s internship programs, visit webpub.byu.edu/internships-byu.
Writer: Adrienne Chamberlain
