Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included: potential student interns among Western Colorado University's undergraduate population host (and potential host) organizations willing to take on undergraduate interns potential future employers of all participating students (including both the Graduate Assistants and undergraduate interns) Changes/Problems:Year 1 of the FSPLH program saw two main challenges. Timing issues (the misalignment between the timing of the grant award and programmatic deadlines)significantly disrupted the program's rollout. The second major challenge concerned transition and change experienced by our organizational partners. Each of our three partner organizations - the Center for Public Lands, Coldharbour Institute, and Hunters of Color - hired new executive directors during the 2023-2024 academic year. Such significant change strained organizational capacity. Further, one of the newly hired executive directors received a very serious diagnosis and continues intensive treatment. Despite these challenges, each of the new executive directors jumped right in to familiarize themselves with the FSPLH program and enthusiastically engaged their Graduate Assistants. The way these organizations handled these changes, with surprisingly minimal negative impact to the program, is a testament to their resiliency and commitment to the program. Revised Project Timetable - Year 2 & 3 PD = Project Director FM = Faculty Mentor GA = Graduate Assistant UI = Undergraduate Intern CP = Community Partner Once grant award contract is executed, awards are announced, PD announces Graduate Assistantships and begins nationwide recruitment in collaboration with CPs. GA applications will be reviewed by PD and MEM Director. Finalists will be forwarded to each CP who will make the final selection. Year 2: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025 July 2024 Year 2 GAs (Coldharbour Institute and Hunters of Color) terms begin. Year 1 and 2 GAs as well as FM for each CP will meet jointly with PD to familiarize new GA with the organization. Year 1 GA will orient Year 2 GA on the challenges and successes of the year and share report. Year 2 GAs will propose 8 internship positions for the year (4 for each semester). GAs will draft any new job descriptions and will update application instructions and rubrics. GA will submit updated materials to FM and CP by August 1st, and PD will initiate UI recruitment. GAs attend Canvas training. GAs will revise and update Canvas content for UI onboarding and training. Draft of updated curriculum due to PD and FM by August 15th. GAs review UI applications and forwards finalists to FM and CP for selection. GAs inform all UI applicants of selection decisions and provide feedback on application materials to all applicants. August 2024 GAs attend the MEM intensive. This 1-week intensive is part of ENVS 601: Introduction to Environmental Management and provides a foundation for DEI-informed environmental management. GAs finalize Canvas onboarding and training materials based on FM and CP feedback. PD confirms internship placements and UIs are registered for ENVS 499 for the Fall semester. September 2024 PD and outside evaluator will identify an Advisory Council. Once formed, Advisory Council members will be invited to review program reports and advise PD and FMs on improvements for Year 2. September-December 2024 UIs complete a total of 112.5 hours of work (including Canvas-based onboarding and training materials) with community partner. GAs meet weekly with respective UIs. Each month, PD meets collectively with all GAs to process and share lessons from the internship experience. GAs communicate at least once a week with FM and CP to assess CP's experience with UIs. At the completion of Fall internships, GA submits final internship evaluation. GA meets with each intern to discuss evaluation. PD posts a final grade for each UI at the completion of ENVS 499. By October 2024, GAs initiate UI recruitment for Spring 2025 semester and reviews applications into November. GAs inform all UI applicants of selection decisions and provide feedback on application materials to all applicants. PD confirms internship placements and UIs are registered for ENVS 499 for the Spring semester. In December 2024, PD meets with each GA and FM to discuss Fall Internship success and shortcomings. GA prepares a 5-page report capturing lessons including strengths and weaknesses of the internship structure. PD aggregates findings from all GA reports and submits to outside evaluator. Note: Recruitment of Year 3 GA will also begin in Fall 2024 with the third round of nation-wide outreach in collaboration with CPs. In Year 3 a half time (20 hours/week) GA will be hired for the Center for Public Lands, a quarter time (10 hours/week) GA will be hired for Hunters of Color), and the Center for Cold Climate Food Security will hire its GA to lead the transition into the post-grant phase. PD and/or CPs will review applications and make a section by February of 2025. January 2025 UIs begin ENVS 499, meeting with respective GA once a week. This 3-credit course begins with DEI-informed and CP-relevant onboarding and training curriculum. PD meets with all GAs once a week to assess GA support and supervision of UIs. February-April 2025 UIs complete a total of 112.5 hours of work (including Canvas-based onboarding and training materials) with community partner. GAs meet weekly with respective UIs. Each month, PD meets collectively with all GAs and all UIs to process and share lessons from the internship experience. GAs communicate at least once a month with FM and CP to assess CP's experience with UIs. By April 30th, GA submits final internship evaluation. PD and GA meets with each intern to discuss evaluation. PD posts a final grade for each UI at the completion of ENVS 499. May 2025 PD meets with each FM and GA to discuss internship success and shortcomings. Each GA updates their mid-year 5-page report capturing lessons learned, including strengths and weaknesses of the internship structure. June 2025 PD aggregates findings from all GA reports, and develops a transition plan for Year 3 which is submitted to outside evaluator. Year 3: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026 June 2025 Year 3 GA begins term. Working under the Center for Cold Climate Food Security, a single GA will take over management of all internship positions. Year 3 GA will review all previous GAs reports and will meet with the FMs of each of the other CPs. GA and PD will meet with Advisory Council who will provide advice on Year 3 planning. July 2025- May 2026 Year 3 GAs begin term. The Center for Public Land will hire its second GA in Year 3. Hunters of Color will hire its third GA, at quarter-time, in Year 3. Additionally, working under the Center for Cold Climate Food Security, a single GA will take over management and mentorship of Coldharbour Institute internship positions with preparing to take over management of all internship positions. Year 3 GAs will review all previous GAs reports and the Center for Cold Climate Food Security GA will meet with the FMs of each of the other CPs. The Fall and Spring semesters of Year 3 will closely mirror Year 2 Scenario A. Because Year 1 and 2 GAs have built capacity for the internship program (including identifying and piloting UI positions as well as creating and refining DEI-informed onboarding and training materials). Note, the PD and GA will meet with the Advisory Council a second time in Year 3, soliciting guidance on transitioning beyond Year 3. Transition planning includes identifying new community partners to host UIs, updating DEI-informed onboarding and training materials, and ensuring the program's long-term sustainability. June 2026 PD and GA will present to Advisory Council and outside evaluator on the program's successes and areas for improvement. This presentation will include a 5-page report on recommendations for the future including a 5 and 10-year plan. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Mentoring Undergraduate Interns For the Graduate Assistants able to place interns in the Spring 2024 semester, direct mentorship of undergraduates was, by far, the most rewarding part of the job. Graduate Assistants met at least weekly with their interns. Generally, these meetings focused on helping undergraduates discuss and process their onboarding and training materials in the first stage of the internship, and then to reflect on 'on-the-job' experiences as they got deeper into their organizational work. These meetings gave undergraduates an opportunity to practice and refine professional communication in a comfortable and less-intimidating environment. Undergraduates were challenged to develop professional autonomy with an emphasis on encouraging questions and self-reflection. The internships concluded with an exit interview between the Graduate Assistant and undergraduate intern. These 'interviews,' were designed less to solicit feedback from interns but instead to help the interns practice how to frame their experiences and lessons in ways that would serve them professionally moving forward. Finally, each Graduate Assistant completed Western's formalinternship evaluationdocument. The Graduate Assistants discussed this document with the student, and submitted it to the internship's faculty advisor. After review, the faculty advisor submitted the intern's final grade. ? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Transitioning to Year 2 Due at least in part to the challenges noted above, the program will adapt in two important ways in Year 2. First, the Center for Public Lands was unable to recruit a Graduate Assistant to serve in Year 2. While we will continue to support new internship placements for the Center (indeed, two students are already registered for a Fall 2024 internship), we will instead reserve the funds for that Graduate Assistant in Year 3, thus extending the timeframe for recruitment. Second, though Hunters of Color did receive about a dozen applications - providing evidence that these funded positions are effective recruitment tools - they opted to rehire their Year 1 Graduate Assistant. Hunters of Color, adjusting to new leadership itself, argued that it was best for them to keep a now-trained Graduate Assistant instead of taking on the work to onboard a new person in that role. In order to maintain the program's goal of leveraging Graduate Assistantships for recruitment purposes, however, we will rehire that person at just one-quarter time (instead of one-half time), which will allow us to hire another person at one-quarter time in Year 3. This simultaneously allows us to continue using the funded position as a recruitment tool and will smooth our transition into the post-grant timeframe.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Year 1 of the FSPLH Program, complete as of June 30, 2024, realized important successes despite several significant challenges. The program aims to a) grant graduate students experience preparing and supervising a team; b) offer undergraduates experiential learning linked to food and agriculture career pathways; and c) build long-term capacity of both the Clark School and partnering organizations to develop the next generation of diverse food systems practitioners, including producers, public land managers, and hunters. The program successfully hired Graduate Assistants, working for each of our partner organizations (the Center for Public Lands, Coldharbour Institute, and Hunters of Color). These Graduate Assistants gained experience leading their teams of undergraduate students, placed seven undergraduates in internship positions, and built partner-organizations' capacity with the creation of new onboarding and training curriculum to guide undergraduates through their internships. TheFSPLP program placed seven undergraduate interns: Center for Public Lands Eleanor Carter, ROE 499: CPL Stewardship Rangers, 2 credits, Spring 2024 Luke Sodergren, ENVS 499: CPL Stewardship Rangers, 1 credit, Spring 2024 Logan White, ENVS 499: Public Lands Management, 3 credits, Spring 2024 Coldharbour Institute Amalia Cass, ENVS 499: Website Design & Mgmt, 1 credit, Summer 2024 Hunters of Color Sadira Reinstar, POLS 499: Inclusive Outdoor Policies, 1 credit, Spring2024 Emma Kjellsen, POLS 499: Inclusive Outdoor Policies, 1 credit, Spring2024 Bruna Torres, ENVS 499: Inclusive Social Media Mgmt, 1 credit, Summer2024 Each of these students successfully completed their internships, gaining valuable professional development as well as exposure to career options in food systems, public lands, and/or the field of hunting. Contributing to the longer-term health of this program, Graduate Assistants also developed meaningful onboarding and training materials, mentored their interns, and recruited undergraduates for internships in Year 2 of the program. ?--- *Year 1 of the program was originally set from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. As USDA-NIFA awarded the grant on September 1, 2023, Year 1 was adjusted to November 2023 to June 2024. The later end date was in response to the Master of Environmental Management program adjusting its program start date from June 1 to July 1.

Publications