Internships provide you with practical hands-on work experience that supplements your coursework and gives you valuable tools toward building your career. Your TMD internship will likely happen in your junior or senior year, after you’ve gained some background knowledge from coursework. For some areas of internship there are preferred course prerequisites. For fuller details, review the TMD 461/2 course syllabus.

Process

1. Find a placement site and a faculty supervisor, by doing one of the following:
   • Find a site either on your own or through RhodyNet (URI’s searchable online database of jobs and internships), then ask an appropriate faculty member to be your faculty supervisor
   • Contact a faculty member in your area of specialization (see list below) and work with them to find a suitable placement site for your interests
   • Keep track of announcements on the TMD student Sakai site: many opportunities are posted there as companies needing interns approach the department.
2. Complete the Internship Application Form
3. You and your site supervisor fill out and sign the Internship Contract (a guide and liability check for the employer)
4. Fill out the Internship Learning Contract (which details your duties, hours, responsibilities, number of credits, and how you will be graded for the experience). You should also speak with your academic advisor about the number of credits that you should earn for the internship.
5. Register for the course. You will need a permission number from the instructor to register for TMD 461 and/or TMD 462, the course codes for internships. Consult the faculty areas of specialization below in making your choice.

Please note: these details have to be in place before you start to earn credit for your internship. You cannot do the internship and then arrange to get credit for it afterward.

Areas of Specialization and TMD Faculty

Fashion Merchandising/Marketing
Retailing, wholesaling, manufacturing, forecasting or product development.
Faculty contacts:
Dr. Jessica Strubel
Dr. Saheli Goswami
Dr. Ji-Hye Kang
Elaine Grullon

Interior Design
Interior space planning, furniture, furnishings, or research (TMD 226 and 426 are suggested as prerequisites)
Faculty contacts: See your Advisor

Textile Science
Textile production or laboratory, working in areas such as dyeing and finishing, quality assurance testing (TMD 303 and 313 should be taken prior to an internship)
Faculty contact: Dr. Martin Bide

Apparel Design/Development
Textile and apparel design and construction, pattern making, styling in a textile or apparel firm (students should take TMD 222 before this internship and other apparel courses as appropriate to the position)
Faculty contacts: Dr. Susan Hannel, Dr. Karl Aspelund

Historic Textiles and Costume
Work in an historical society, museum, or textile conservation laboratory (students should have at least one course of the historic sequence, TMD 240/440/441, before this internship)
Faculty contacts: Dr. Linda Welters