Professional Experience

Concordia has a long tradition of offering its students a "supervised work experience." More recently, the Arts and Sciences programs have included opportunities for practical work experiences for credit. Professional Experience (PROEX), the umbrella term used to include all practical training course work, is broadly defined as a work experience in business, industry, or an agency where a student receives academic credit for applying learned concepts and theories to practical situations on the job.

Professional Experience includes courses titled Internship, Practicum and Field Experiences. These may be taken with other course work during the academic year, or may be taken during the summer months. They are generally not a paid experience. Cooperative Education will be a work experience that may be full time or parallel with course work. However, it will always be a paid experience.

Each student who applies for a Professional Experience course will meet with the PROEX Coordinator and his/her faculty supervisor from the major. To receive PROEX credit, a student must develop objectives and conduct learning activities to accomplish these goals. No student will be given credit on a retroactive basis. In general, students must have completed 12 hours toward their major and have a B average in all of their major courses. The objectives must be approved by the faculty supervisor and the work site supervisor before the student can register for the PROEX course. Application must be made to the PROEX Coordinator at least one semester before the experience is to begin. Students interested in the professional experience program should see the Director of Career Services for information and procedures.