Cal State Fullerton Internships: A Comprehensive Guide for Students

Internships are a vital component of a student's academic journey, offering practical experience and professional development opportunities. At Cal State Fullerton (CSUF), internships are designed to provide students with relevant experience in their field of study, build their professional network, and even offer the possibility of earning a wage or stipend and academic credits. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of internship opportunities available at CSUF, resources for finding and securing internships, and specific information for students in various colleges and departments.

Benefits of Internships

Internships offer numerous benefits to students, including:

Relevant Experience: Internships provide hands-on experience in a student's field of study or desired industry, allowing them to apply classroom knowledge to real-world situations.
Professional Network: Internships help students build their professional network by connecting them with industry professionals, potential mentors, and future employers.
Wage/Stipend and Academic Credits: Many internships offer a wage or stipend, providing students with financial support while gaining valuable experience. Additionally, students may be able to earn academic credits for their internship, further enhancing their academic record.
Career Exploration: Internships provide an invaluable learning experience, an opportunity to explore a potential career field.
Resume Enhancement: A chance to learn and teach history beyond the classroom, internships are a vehicle for gaining hands-on experience that will enhance any resume, graduate school application, or law school application, regardless of the nature of the internship itself.

General Resources for Finding Internships

CSUF offers a variety of resources to help students find and secure internships:

Handshake: Handshake is a platform that helps students find amazing jobs and internships and stay up-to-date on upcoming events. It is a valuable tool for students in all majors and colleges.
CSUF Business Career Services on Canvas: CSUF Business Career Services provides resources relating to job search, internships, and career development on Canvas. These resources include comprehensive company profiles, career topic guidebooks, industry articles, and sample résumés.
Firsthand (Vault): Firsthand (formerly Vault) offers comprehensive company profiles, industry information, and career advice. If it is the first time that you are accessing Vault, click on the "Register Now" link on the Firsthand platform.
Titan Connection: Pre-approved internship opportunities can be found on Titan Connection.
Internship FAQs: Review the Internship FAQs (PDF) for commonly asked questions about internships. Select the image to open the PDF document.

Internship Opportunities by College/Department

College of Communications

Students attending the College of Communications at Cal State Fullerton are serious about their education because they are serious about their plans following graduation. An internship is the critical element in connecting academic experience to the professional work arena. Southern California is rich with internship opportunities serving the communications and entertainment industries. The Departments of Communications and Cinema and Television Arts require that students pursuing degrees in these majors complete an internship course as part of their undergraduate experience. Human Communication Studies majors are encouraged, though not required, to complete an internship. Students earn 3 units of credit for their COMM 495T, CTVA 495, or HCOM 495 internship, which is composed of a minimum of 120 hours in the field.

College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) - Social Science Research Center (SSRC)

The SSRC is committed to providing an environment in which CSUF students can participate in applied learning and engage in High-Impact Practices (HIP). This allows them to gain the knowledge and skills that will not only support their classroom education but also improve their chances of being employed in a related field after graduation. The SSRC internship experience takes a student through the entire process of survey research. We are committed to a learning-by-doing model in which students have the opportunity to be involved in the design of research protocols and sampling methods, questionnaire development, data collection, quality control processes, data analysis, and report production. However, the experience can be crafted for each student to emphasize the area of social science or applied survey research considered most important to them.

Eligibility Requirements:

The student needs be currently enrolled in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).
Students should have a high level of interest in applied social science research.
Students should have excellent oral and written communication skills.

The SSRC is currently accepting applications for its Spring 2026 internship program. Applications must be submitted by Thursday, November 13th. Amy recently joined the SSRC as a research intern for the upcoming Spring 2026 semester. Currently, she is working towards a B.A. in Psychology and plans to graduate next Fall. Sebastian recently joined the SSRC as a research intern for the upcoming Spring 2026 semester. He is working towards a B.A in Psychology and intends to graduate in the Spring.

Department of History

An internship provides an invaluable learning experience, an opportunity to explore a potential career field, a chance to learn and teach history beyond the classroom, and a vehicle for gaining hands-on experience that will enhance any resume, graduate school application, or law school application, regardless of the nature of the internship itself. The details and duties of any internship will vary according to the student, the site, and the site supervisor, but in general an internship will require at least 120 hours of work related to the site's operations (an average of eight hours per week over the course of a fifteen-week semester). Most internships are not paid. Ideally, an internship will supplement, enhance, and allow you to apply what you've learned in your history classes. You might work in a museum, at a historic site, in a local library or archive, with a historical organization, or with a local government agency.

Steps to Finding a History Internship:

Think about what kind of place you'd like to work. (A museum? An archive? A historic site?)
Do what all good historians do: research. Make contact. (Tell the person you talk to that you are a CSUF History student, that you're interested in an internship, that you'll receive course credit, and that, if they're accepting interns, you'd like to schedule an appointment.)
Determine if you've found an internship opportunity you'd like to take.
Register! (Schedule an appointment with the History Internship Coordinator to receive permission to enroll in History 498 or 596.)
In conjunction with your site supervisor, fill out preliminary paperwork (including an articulation of responsibilities and learning objectives). Return this to the History Internship Coordinator.
Go to work. (Plan your schedule, remembering that you need to log at least 120 hours by the end of the semester.)
Stay in touch with the History Internship Coordinator. (Plan to attend a mid-semester intern meeting and share news of your progress.)
After you complete your internship, write a reflective essay and submit it to the History Internship Coordinator.

In recent semesters, CSUF History students have undertaken internships throughout Southern California, across the country, and in Europe. Host sites and institutions have included the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the Autry National Center of the American West (Los Angeles), Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (St. Louis), and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum (Yorba Linda).

Department of Psychology

To ensure that you have plenty of time, it is recommended that you begin looking for an internship the semester before you take Psychology 495. This gives you enough time to apply, interview, obtain background checks and other tests and clearances before starting at your site. Avoid looking for a site during the semester (when you can be accumulating hours). Take your internship during a semester when your coursework is less intense than usual so that you have time outside of class to complete the internship hours. You must have completed the pre-requisites (three upper-division psychology courses at CSUF and minimum 2.0 GPA in psychology).

Students will receive guidance on how to find appropriate internships and referrals. Sites that utilize psychological concepts or theories to accomplish their mission (e.g., mental health facilities, educational settings, homes for the elderly, group homes, rehab centers, work in a psych professor's research lab, businesses that rely on I/O principles for hiring, training, evaluating employees). The sites should have a supervisor or team that offers training and guidance on a regular basis and can provide evaluations and feedback to interns. You can use your regular job as long as it meets the criteria above but you should insure that your internship involves a new component or challenge to avoid doing the same activity as usual. The internship is a learning experience.

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Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences (ISDS)

The ISDS Internship Program, part of the CSUF Internship and Cooperative Education program, is designed to offer students learning opportunities outside of the classroom through job experience related to the field of management information systems or management science. The internship program is a partnership between the department and the community on behalf of the student who seeks to gain experience related to their academic studies and career goals. While internships exist primarily for the benefit of the students, many organizations have found that they receive substantial benefits from the relationship. In particular, they gain the opportunity to influence and evaluate future professionals in their field. Students also serve as great public relations agents in terms of attracting full-time employees to your organization. Perhaps equally importantly, the work given to the intern can free up your permanent employees to do more advanced work of a higher priority.

An internship is a short-term learning experience. It usually coincides with an academic semester at CSUF (Fall; September through December or Spring; February though May) or during the summer period (June through August). At the same time that a student is working and learning at the site, he/she is enrolled in an academic course taught by a Faculty Internship Coordinator. For CSUF students, the most popular type of internship is "part-time" - 10 to 20 hours per week during the academic year. This schedule allows a student to continue with course work during the internship. The minimum length of an academically-related internship is 120 hours (10 hours per week for 12 weeks).

Internship opportunities should provide students with professionally-oriented activities that will enable them to experience work similar to that of a new entrant in the field. The position should allow the student to use knowledge gained in the classroom and provide hands-on experience. To assure that the student gets the most out of the internship experience, students must have attained at least junior level status and completed a minimum of two management information systems classes or two management science classes. Clerical or non-professional tasks must be limited to 20% or less of the overall responsibilities and the student must receive monetary compensation for the work they perform. The sponsoring organization is responsible for providing both Worker Compensation and third party liability coverage for student interns. Internship positions must relate to a student’s academic major/goal. The position description should describe in some detail the duties the intern will be expected to perform. If there are minimum qualifications you would like to include, they should be made part of the position description.

The internship coordinator for the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences is Rahul Bhaskar; Bhaskar approves the internship position and defines the student requirements for academic credit. He is available during the semester to guide and assist students in defining and fulfilling their internship goals. Upon completion of the internship he evaluates student performance and assigns academic credit.

College of Education

Cal State Fullerton has relationships with over 70 public school districts. You can intern at any school in an approved school district. The Approved School District can be found on the Academic Internship Instruction Card under Step Two, Option B. Public school positions are not posted on Titan Connection. Rather, you need to contact the individual indicated on the Approved School District list and let them know you would like to complete your "Undergraduate field experience hours" at their school. Indicate if you would like to shadow a teacher or an educational psychologist or school counselor, etc. Once the school has agreed to take you on as an intern and has provided you with the name and contact information of your supervisor, then you will complete the Internship Approval Request. Once the request has been received, CICE will create a custom opportunity for you. Check with the faculty member teaching your 495 class to see if your site is acceptable. Once You have been offered the position, you can fill out the Internship Approval Request. This can also be found on the Academic Internship Instruction Card under Step 2, Option B. Once you have secured a site and supervisor, you can go to Step 4 on the Academic Instruction Card. There is a Google Doc that will give you detailed step by step instructions on completing this process.

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Important Considerations for All Internships

Academic Credit: For specific instructions on steps to the internship process for academic credit, please refer to your CICE 495 Instruction Cards.
Internship Approval Request: Once you have been offered the position, you can fill out the Internship Approval Request.
Minimum Hours: The minimum length of an academically-related internship is generally 120 hours.
Site Supervisor: The sites should have a supervisor or team that offers training and guidance on a regular basis and can provide evaluations and feedback to interns.

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