Rebekka Andersen Receives $5,000 Grant to Study Professional Writing Internships Abroad

UWP Professor Rebekka Andersen received a $5,000 grant from the C.R. Anderson Foundation, an affiliate of the Association for Business Communication, to fund a study of professional writing internships abroad. The foundation supports innovative business communication research that explores how people communicate effectively within and outside business organizations to get work done.

 

In partnership with UC Davis Study Abroad and CAPA The Global Education Network, Andersen will study the UC Davis Australian Internships & Writing in Sydney quarter abroad program, with the goal of learning how students develop professional writing and intercultural competencies during their internships and how internships abroad might best be structured to support student learning. She will further examine how students come to understand and then participate in the communication practices of their organizations. Andersen will be on research sabbatical during fall 2018 and will be conducting the study onsite in Sydney.

 

To date, neither the field of business and professional communication nor UC Davis has gathered data for the purposes of examining student learning during their internships abroad. This research project will contribute new knowledge to the field and contribute recommendations for structuring professional writing internship abroad programs.