For students taking advantage of the Newhouse in New York City program next fall, they may find that it will involve more than just an internship and a few classes.

Starting in the fall of 2014, students in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will be able to take classes and intern in New York City as part of a program called Newhouse in New York City to gain real-life experience while fulfilling academic requirements.  Ten students total, all juniors and seniors, applied to the program.

For the past five years, Newhouse students have had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles to study for a semester in Hollywood, said Shelly Griffin, assistant director of off-campus programs. But students haven’t been able to study at the media hub of the East coast.

“I think we saw the success of the L.A. program and realized it can be done, the time is now,” Griffin said. “We said to ourselves let’s do it, let’s just jump in.”

In L.A., Newhouse juniors and seniors enroll as full-time students but schedule their classes around a three-credit internship.  The new program in NYC was created to mimic the L.A. semester, Griffin said. The classes offered differ between the L.A. and NYC semesters, though.

“I think in New York it is set up for all of Newhouse, whereas L.A., at first glance, it is more just television, radio, film based even though it is open to the entire university,” she said.

In New York City, students will have the opportunity to take a variety of Newhouse courses, not just television, radio and film classes. Lectures will only be offered from 6-9 p.m. at the Fisher Center, the university’s study abroad facility, because students are required to intern during the day, said Cheryl Brody Franklin, director of the Newhouse in New York City program.

Franklin is a 2004 Newhouse alumna who studied magazine journalism and Spanish during her time at Syracuse University.  Before becoming director of the program, Franklin worked for InStyle magazine and helped organize the annual trip that magazine journalism majors take to NYC.

Franklin said the new program is an incredible opportunity for students to decide if they truly want to move to the city after graduation.

“New York is an unbelievable city.  I love it. I have lived here for 10 years, but it is not for everyone,” she said.  “So I think this is a great way for students to figure out if this is the place they want to be when they graduate, instead of just graduating and moving here and trying to figure it out then.“

Franklin said she will be at SU this week to talk to applicants and discuss their long-term goals.  These face-to-face meetings will allow Franklin to better understand the kind of internships that suit the students.

Both Newhouse and the students collaborate to find the internships, said Bridget Lichtinger, assistant director of the Newhouse Career Development Center.

“We often have employers that are contacting us for interns in the spring and in the fall, saying they want someone for that semester to be in the city,” she said.  “And all this time we have had to say, ‘Well, they’re still studying in Syracuse.’”

Now that Newhouse students will be available to intern during the semester, a lot of employers are going to be very excited, Lichtinger said.

Franklin said she hopes students will start thinking about the program as an option like studying abroad in a foreign country. She added that she is excited to have the students arrive in the fall so she can help show them everything the city has to offer.

Said Franklin: “I want them to love being a student here, love being an intern here and also love being a New Yorker for a semester.”

Published on April 10, 2014 at 12:58 am

Contact Kate: kacapoda@syr.edu