90 The Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration offered accelerated programs of study through which students had the opportunity to graduate with both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in five years or less. The degrees were either a Master of Business Administration or a Master of Science in Information Systems. Some students within the accelerated program did an internship while completing classes. Karen Corker, assistant professor of business administration and co-chair of the accounting department, said that while it was not required for students within this program to complete an internship, some chose to do so. “In the fall, we have what is called ‘Meet the Firms,’ where we have many accounting firms and other businesses for other majors as well come to campus to talk to our students,” Corker said. After the Meet the Firms event, students could interview for a potential internship position. If they received the internship, students enrolled for online classes and completed the internship. They then returned to campus for the remainder of the semester. Senior Olivia Scott participated in a remote nineweek internship with Deloitte while taking online classes last spring. She said she worked for about 55 hours per week in addition to classes. Scott was supposed to intern in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but the team was still working remotely during that time due to COVID-19. DOUBLE DEGREE The Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration creates a dual degree program. “It was an audit internship, and I was placed on the UnitedHealth Group team, which is one of Deloitte’s biggest clients,” Scott said. “[It] was super interesting learning how to navigate with multiple people and teams and things like that. Deloitte definitely helped me figure out what I do and don’t enjoy doing as much.” After the internship concluded, she returned to campus for in-person classes for six weeks. Scott said she had classes every day, and the classes tended to be more group project based. She said that she was excited to return to campus after working remotely for part of the semester. Senior Gracie Metheny partook in an internship to help meet her accounting degree goals. She started her internship in January of her junior year in Little Rock at BKD, which later merged to become FORVIS. “I was an audit intern and was working during their busy season,” Metheny said. Metheny said that while she interned she was enrolled in an online Bible class and a graduate class. After the internship concluded mid-March, she returned to in-person classes, where she completed 17 hours in total that semester. “I will certainly take what I learned and put it to use when I begin working post-grad,” Metheny said. “I think sometimes it can be hard to wrap your mind around what the business world will look like if you’ve never experienced it, so this was a very eye-opening experience for me.” Written by: Camille White
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