The goal of this course is to support students in their professional development as health communication specialists. This is goal is achieved through a combination of career development workshops and guest speakers who can speak to emerging trends, bring real-life application to the curriculum, and share perspectives on possible career pathways in the field of health communication. Each quarter will bring different career topics and speakers. Our guest speakers represent an opportunity for students to build or expand their professional network. While the career development workshops afford students the mechanism to operationalize SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results), the EPICS/Health Communication approach to career development.
The Proseminar course engages with distinguished professionals in the healthcare industry who share their career path, experience as a leader, and give advice to students interested in working in that sector. They also discuss how the industry functions, the current trends and challenges they face, and the knowledge and skills you will need to acquire in order to be successful.
EPICS provides empowering, focused coaching to a diverse group of academic programs within the School of Communication. EPICS career coaches are here to help students unlock their potential and develop professionally. Whether acting as a consultant to review resumes or offering strategies for a successful job search, coaching relationships can help students move through their career journey. Career coaches are embedded in the six graduate programs mentioned at the top of this page and provide support and encouragement to students.
As a requirement of the MSHC program, students are required to complete an internship or they can enroll in the Practicum course. Both options provide students the opportunity to gain real world, hands on experience.
Students are required to search for and secure an internship that aligns with their interests, coursework, and goals. This experience requires a minimum of 64 hours of supervised experiential learning while students are enrolled in the MSHC Internship Seminar.
The seminar occurs simultaneously while students are interning to provide a structured approach to their internship experience and post graduate plans. Through a series of assignments, students will assess their skills, experiences, and interests to develop a personal plan on how to best leverage their internships in order to further their career development. Topics and concepts explored will include:
The practicum is a quarter long project designed to synthesize what you have learned in your field of study, and to apply it to a project of your choosing to create a portfolio piece to help guide you toward your aspirations. The project will be iterative and will allow you to think about all of the steps involved in creating something that has more depth and consideration than general coursework allows.
