Internship Day spotlights the transforming career-power of internships

UB will hold its inaugural “Internship Day,” a “marathon” multi-faceted workshop on taking advantage of internships that includes a guest appearance by Joshua Walker, UB alumnus and senior vice-president for HBO’s distribution business affairs.

It will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Student Union, North Campus. A full schedule of events for interested faculty and staff can be found on the Career Services website; a schedule of student-focused events can be found there as well.

The daylong series of interactive activities aims to elevate the conversation on campus about the importance and value of internships. Ninety-seven percent of employers hire interns each year, according to organizers of the event. These workshops aim to teach employers, faculty and students the benefits of being an intern and how to become one.

Walker will give his keynote speech at 2 p.m. in the Student Union Theater. He will talk about the importance of students getting internships while in school, the importance of networking, what HBO in particular offers regarding internships, his time here at UB, how he got to HBO and who helped him along the way. He also will take some questions at the end of his talk.

In his role as senior vice-president for HBO, Walker structures and negotiates content distribution deals and strategic new media partnerships with media companies that include Comcast, Google, Amazon, DIRECTV, Microsoft, Verizon, Apple and AT&T. He also works with executive leadership to set HBO’s strategy domestically and internationally.

Walker received a bachelor’s degree in English and political science and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UB in 1999. While a student, he was a staff member of The Spectrum, the student newspaper, and served as the paper’s editor-in-chief his junior year.

During Internship Day, participants can attend practical and sometimes offbeat seminars including “Wanderlust? Finding Global Internships,” “Internships for the Environmentally Conscious,” “Etiquette Lunch,” “Transferring Internship Skills to a Full-time Job” and “Rock the Mic: Speaking Confidently in Public.”

“This event has something for everyone,” says Robert Orrange, Internship Day coordinator.

Faculty and staff can share ideas and best practices at the opening reception, Orrange says. Students can learn about the resources on campus, as well as internships in the field from employers themselves. Walker himself was once a UB intern.

Students and staff can take free LinkedIn photos from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 145B Student Union. “Another really fun activity will be the skill-building session with the improv experts from ‘ComedySportz,’ ” Orrange says. “The Student Union Theater will definitely be the place to be on Nov. 10.

“In addition to hosting students and employers, the Internship Day committee looks forward to a late-morning visit from an international delegation of higher education administrators. These special guests are visiting the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program.”

The event is coordinated by the UB “SUNY Works” committee — chaired by Arlene Kaukus, director of UB Career Services — of the UB Experiential Learning Consortium chaired by Mara B. Huber, associate dean for undergraduate education research and experiential learning.

“Internship Day is an exciting celebration of the tremendous value that guided work experiences can offer to students in pursuit of their academic and professional goals,” says Huber. “I strongly encourage faculty and staff to participate in the events and conversations offered through this daylong program, and students of all levels and backgrounds to embrace the benefits of internships.”

The UB Career Services office and the Office of Internships and Experiential Learning, a division of the Frank L. Ciminelli Family Career Resources Center in the School of Management, are the primary coordinators of the event.