| dc.description.abstract | Kennesaw State University is a large public university located in Kennesaw, Georgia, with approximately 42,000 students enrolled between two campuses. About 25 percent of the KSU undergraduate student population identifies as African American/Black and male. The Department of Career Planning and Development (CPD) is housed within the university’s student retention services division. It has offices on both campuses and is particularly concerned with the number of African American/Black male students participating in internship opportunities. The goal of my capstone project is to identify practices that may impact internship participation among African American male students, determine strategies to increase equity in internship participation, and make recommendations to the Career Planning and Development staff that will increase the percentage of students who identify as African American males and participate in high-quality internship opportunities while enrolled at Kennesaw State University. A survey was disseminated to every current student who accessed CPD’s services, and students who completed the survey were asked to opt into a 30-45 minute interview. The most prevalent barriers to high-quality internship participation among African American/black men included a heavy course load, inability to identify internship opportunities, insufficient pay, and not being selected for opportunities. Students participating in internships were well connected to the campus and external community, and their networks positioned them to learn about and prepare for internships. I used these findings to develop three recommendations for Kennesaw State University’s Department of Career Planning and Development. | |
