Creating Leadership and Professional Development through Extension Internships

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Ms. Shannon Dill, Principal Agent, University of Maryland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The University of Maryland Extension received a grant on April 15th, 2021. The grant was endowed by the United States Department of Agriculture and sponsored by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to create a summer internship program that provides meaningful and technical skills to students at underserved institutions, community colleges, or non-Land-Grant institutions, training the future agricultural workforce.

The University of Maryland Extension (UME) created a summer internship program, pairing seven interns annually with competent mentors. Through this program, interns gain hands-on experience and participate in leadership and professional development training. The project will address the eight core competencies in career readiness. In addition to professional development and one-on-one pairing with a faculty mentor, interns will have opportunities to network with private industry professionals. The experience will be a ten-week program in which interns work full-time.

The objectives of the project are to 1. Provide experiential learning opportunities in Extension and agricultural research to undergraduate students, including those at community colleges and underserved institutions in Maryland, through the creation of a summer internship; 2. Develop internal hiring and mentorship skills in UME Faculty; 3) Increase student interns' career-readiness and leadership skills; and 4. Increase the number of students from these institutions who continue their education and enter the agricultural workforce.
Program Contacts:

Shannon Dill, Extension Educator - AgFS

410-822-1244 | sdill@umd.edu

Andrea Franchini, Program Management Specialist - AgFS 

301-226-7416 | andrea1@umd.edu
 

Ms. Shannon Dill, PI, is the Project Director and oversees the entire project. Co-PI’s include Dr. Nicole Fiorellino. The project runs from April 15, 2021, to April 14, 2026.

This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Competitive Grant Workforce Development, project MD-UME-09312.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. 

Esta institución ofrece igualdad de oportunidades.  

2023 Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships. 

The University of Maryland Extension is happy to announce  the second cohort for ‘Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships'. Nine interns have been selected from colleges across Maryland, including Anne Arundel Community College, Hagerstown Community College, Community College of Baltimore County, the University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. And an intern is joining us from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA.

Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships. 

Seven interns have been selected from colleges across Maryland, including St. Mary's College of Maryland, Institute of Applied Agriculture at the University of Maryland, University of Maryland College Park, Morgan State University, College of Southern Maryland, and Salisbury University. On July 6th and 7th, student interns will visit the University of Maryland campus to talk with educators and researchers across a variety of agricultural disciplines and to participate in an in-person leadership training with LEAD Maryland and the University's Maryland Leadership Education and Development Program. This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Competitive Grant Workforce Development, to create a meaningful summer internship program for students to gain technical skills and train a future agricultural workforce. 

Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships, Summer 2024

The University of Maryland Extension's Workforce Development Internship, ' Creating Leadership & Professional Development Through Extension Internships,' is thrilled to announce its third cohort. This unique Program offers hands-on experience, mentorship, and professional development, making it an ideal opportunity for college students interested in agriculture and professional growth.   

Twelve interns have been selected from colleges across Maryland and the region, including Salisbury University, Institute of Applied Agriculture at the University of Maryland, University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Chesapeake College, Rutgers University, and West Virginia University to participate in a 10 week full time internship program starting May 28th. This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Competitive Grant Workforce Development, to create a meaningful summer internship program for students to gain technical skills and train a future agricultural workforce. 

Interns will have the unique opportunity to work closely with UME faculty mentors and mentor teams on Extension activities and applied research at UME offices and Research and Education Centers across the state. This year, a diverse range of locations, including Baltimore City, Cecil, Frederick, Montgomery, Dorchester, Talbot, Wicomico, Somerset, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Garrett County offices and the Wye and the Western Maryland Research and Education Centers (Wye REC and WMREC), offers a rich learning experience for interns to contribute to research and programs that reach local and statewide communities. 

The Program's leadership and professional development curriculum, based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) framework for career readiness, is designed to equip interns with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in their future careers. Weekly Connections will provide insights into industry leaders and careers in agriculture and agricultural support industries, and the two-day College Park Campus Residency will offer a unique opportunity to visit innovative research and technology labs advancing climate-smart agriculture and network with staff and faculty from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Visit https://go.umd.edu/extensioninternships to learn more.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider

Ten interns have been selected from colleges across Maryland and beyond, including the Institute of Applied Agriculture at the University of Maryland, Salisbury University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Loyola University Maryland, University of Mount Olive, Unity Environmental University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Louisiana State University, West Virginia University, and University of Tennessee, Knoxville to participate in our 10 week full-time internship program starting May 27th. This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Competitive Grant Workforce Development, to create a meaningful summer internship program for students to gain technical skills and train a future agricultural workforce. 

Interns will have the unique opportunity to work closely with UME faculty mentors and mentor teams on Extension activities and applied research at UME offices and Research and Education Centers across the state. This year, a diverse range of locations, including Baltimore City, Queen Anne’s, Dorchester, Talbot, Wicomico, Somerset, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Allegany, Washington County offices and the Wye, Western Maryland, and Central Maryland Research and Education Centers offers a rich learning experience for interns to contribute to research and programs that reach local and statewide communities. 

The Program's leadership and professional development curriculum, based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) framework for career readiness, is designed to equip interns with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in their future careers. Weekly Connections will provide insights into industry leaders and careers in agriculture and agricultural support industries, and the two-day College Park Campus Residency will offer a unique opportunity to visit innovative research and technology labs and network with staff and faculty from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Visit https://go.umd.edu/extensioninternships to learn more.