Supporting Learning with Internships

Students are invited to co-create a nine-month, part-time internship that supports their individual learning and vocational needs, partners them with an experienced supervisor, and fits with the gifts and needs of a community partner.

Iliff Students intern in diverse contexts including congregations, denominational offices, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, or government agencies.

During Internship, students participate in a concurrent Internship Seminar, engaging in a 30-week curriculum with colleagues, Seminar Instructors, Internship Supervisors, and leaders within their communities. Visit our Internship website to learn more about the Internship Seminar curriculum, and to find Internship Supervisor and Community Advisory Council resources, training dates, and forms.

View one Iliff student’s dynamic internship experience with a local non-profit organization that focuses on international development!

Graduate-level internships at Iliff School of Theology are a mutually reciprocal partnership between:

Internship sites and supervisors;
Student Interns; and
Iliff School of Theology’s Office of Professional Formation

Interested in supervising an Iliff Intern?

Iliff School of Theology’s Office of Professional Formation partners with diverse church and community leaders to create meaningful Internships. We accept internship inquiries from potential sites and supervisors throughout the year. Students start researching potential internship sites annually in January, with internship placements confirmed in May.

Supervisory Expectations:

Primarily engage the professional formation of the student Intern by creating a supervisory relationship that focuses on the Intern’s learning and growth;
Provide meaningful work that supports student formation and contributes to the institution
Meet with a student intern weekly for one-hour supervisory meetings focused on theological reflection, learning, and growth within a mentoring relationship;
Attend and participate in Iliff’s Supervisor training and provide two written evaluations of the intern
Supervisors should have graduate-level training and/or significant ministry and/or leadership experience and be in a position to mentor interns into the field
Supervisors should be well-established within their institutions or communities, and may not be in their first year at the institution, as we want you to focus on getting to know the community
Supervisors may not be recent Iliff graduates, as there cannot be the actual or perceived experience that you had class together with an Intern as a peer.
Supervisors who successfully complete their supervisory responsibilities have the opportunity to audit an Iliff course at no cost.

Intern Compensation

The Office of Professional Formation is committed to the shared responsibility of developing current and future leaders. This includes justice commitments of financial support from all stakeholders. Most Iliff students make significant financial and personal sacrifices to undertake their education. Therefore, we expect our Internship sites to partner by providing some form of financial compensation. We suggest that sites aim for $15/hour for the 420-hour, 9-month Internship (~$6,300.00/year). The Office of Professional Formation has some scholarship and fellowship monies to support Interns and supplement site contributions. Iliff continues to raise funding for scholarships and train students in financial resiliency and management.

Supervisor Discernment Meetings

The Office of Professional Formation offers Supervisor Discernment Meetings for those who are interested in hosting and supervising an Iliff intern. These informational meetings will share Iliff expectations of the site and supervisor, and provide an opportunity to ask questions. If you have never supervised an Iliff intern, or it has been a while, we strongly encourage you to attend one of these three sessions. Experienced Iliff internship supervisors may also attend. All are welcome. Please RSVP, dates and times are listed within the RSVP form.

Posting an Internship Opportunity

Create a login and Community Partner Profile in the Professional (In)Formation Network to post internship opportunities to the Iliff community. Your post will be reviewed and approved by Iliff’s Office of Professional Formation. Once approved, your post will be publicly viewable to Iliff students searching for Internship sites. Students will contact you directly if they are interested in interning with you. Once you and the intern agree to work together, you will collaborate to develop a detailed draft Internship Agreement due on May 1st, annually. Because this is a mutual and relational process, occasionally some internship sites will not find a match with an appropriate intern each year.

For questions about Internship, please contact: The Office of Professional Formation at ProfessionalFormation@iliff.edu

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