Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This internship program will give undergraduates in their second and third years of college the opportunity to explore careers in outreach, natural resources, and graduate school. Specific program objectives are to: (1) provide opportunities for undergraduates to learn more about careers in outreach education, with an emphasis on Extension; (2) facilitate undergraduate research experiences; (3) facilitate student learning regarding implications and application of research; (4) provide mentorship to students interested in natural resource careers and/or graduate school. The internship program is designed to complement the Warnell School's existing experiential learning efforts. The experience will provide skills and knowledge that will improve future job performance when obtained during the students' academic programs. In addition to technical skills, the program's mentorship model develops and builds on students' communication, conflict management, and problem-solving skills as well as leadership experience. Warnell School faculty will submit proposals describing the research project, expected outcomes and outputs, associated outreach activities, mentorship plan, and project budget. Internship program administrators will select projects based on specified criteria, such as shadowing an Extension agent, and help recruit students, including targeted recruiting of underserved students. Assessments include weekly student reflections, weekly project meetings between intern and mentor, pre-post internship surveys, adult mentoring assessment survey, and long-term impact follow-up surveys. In addition, students must create an outreach written product and participate in an outreach event to successfully complete the internship.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overarching program goals are for undergraduates to:(1) become interested in natural resource careers, including educational outreach(2) appreciate the connection between research and outreach as well as the ways research informs practice(3) seek careers in natural resource management and/or graduate studies
Project Methods
Program administrators will spend the first year further designing and developing the foundation for the program. This will include meeting with an advisory committee (see Management Plan) and conferring with stakeholders, developing the request for mini-proposals (with guidelines and expectations), finalizing evaluations instruments and evaluation plan, and finalizing the data repository and sharing tools. After each year, a program report will be submitted to the sponsor that contains information from each of the mentors' final reports as well as assessment results.After the program design phase, there will be an internal call for proposals directed only to Warnell faculty through an email by the Dean. Immediately following the call for proposals, we will hold a mentorship and proposal training (initially facilitated by Dr. Marina Denny from MSU). The training will assist faculty in writing proposals with strong mentorship components, as well as train them for effective mentoring if their proposal is selected. After being selected, program administrators will work with successful mentors to finalize mentorship and evaluation plans. Mentors must submit a final report via Qualtrics at the conclusion of the internship.Proposals will specify an appropriate research project with a strong outreach component. In addition, the project can address any issue concerning environment and natural resources but must include data analysis. Strong proposals will describe how the student will employ data from the USDA Tools or Data Gateway, spatial data repositories, Census, or other secondary data source. As well, strong proposals will involve students in primary data collection. Proposals must involve the student in communicating with stakeholders and presenting some aspect of the research project to a stakeholder audience. Talking with stakeholders and making a presentation will build students' communication and problem-solving skills. Thus, accepted proposals will result in an outreach product with student participation and strong proposals will allow for the student to be involved in designing the outreach event. As well, strong proposals will include a research publication involving the undergraduate author.While some faculty may already have identified a student intern, others may need assistance recruiting an intern. To this end, internship program administrators will market the program to students in their second or third year of enrollment through the School's recruiting and careers services offices. A key component of the proposed program involves recruiting students from underserved populations (also a key component of Warnell's strategic plan in review); therefore, we will work with Minorities in Agriculture and Natural Resource Related Sciences during recruiting (MANRRS). Our target number of interns representing underserved populations is 20 to 30 percent of the estimated total over the four-year period. Primary methods of recruiting include advertising in the various UGA undergraduate student bulletins, contacting career services offices, posting to Warnell's web site, newsletter, and social media, and working through our network of colleagues throughout UGA. The Academic Manager will send a targeted email to students and personnel. See Facilities and Other Resources for more information on Warnell resources.Students must submit to the PI (via email) an online application form, a letter of interest, resume, and one recommendation letter, which could be from the faculty member submitting the project proposal. Program administrators will review applications to ensure qualified students are selected to meet program objectives. Selected students will receive an orientation prior to starting their internships to explain program expectations, how to receive academic credit, Extension and the Land Grant mission, and other pertinent information. Mentors select the final applicant for their integrated project.Nature of Student ActivitiesStudents are expected to work with their mentors to coordinate research and implement related outreach activities, including meetings where local issues are identified and prioritized. As an optional activity, program administrators will facilitate logistics for students who wish to shadow an Extension agent for a short period of time. In addition, students must submit weekly electronic critical reflections to a Qualtrics form, a student-led outreach written product (e.g., newsletter, Extension publication, magazine article, blog article) and a student-led outreach event that disseminates research results.Mentoring PlanIndividual proposals must describe the mentorship plan. Each mentorship plan will be unique and tailored to the intern, the mentor, and the project issues. During the mentorship training, mentors will complete the Adult Mentoring Assessment to evaluate perceived efficacy of mentorship abilities based on six behavioral constructs (Denny 2017). This model underscores that whereas advising directs, mentoring provides guidance taking into consideration the students' personal situation, needs, and passions (Denny 2016).?