Fact Sheet for Site Supervisors of OLPD 5696: Graduate Student Internship
General Information
The purpose of the internship is to provide the student with an opportunity to engage in real-life human resource development (HRD) experiences under the supervision of HRD practitioners from industry, for-profit or non-profit business, or government.
While the internship may be job related and conducted at the student's place of employment, the activities must be above and beyond normal job responsibilities. Students are encouraged to limit activities to those that can be achieved within a semester. HRD activities include training and development and organization development.
- Training and development activities include: conducting needs assessments, developing training programs, designing training materials, implementing training, and evaluating it.
- Organization development activities include: team building, coaching, assessment of organizational culture (including that which occurs as a result of mergers and acquisitions), engagement in diversity initiatives, or any activity designed to enhance capacity at the individual, group, or organizational level.
The department encourages host sites to pay student interns; however, there may be times when a non-paid internship is appropriate.
The Role of the Student
- Discuss activities with your site supervisor, and obtain agreement (see Contract).
- Keep a written log of your time, activities, and applicable theories.
- Submit a final report to your host supervisor and internship instructor.
The Role of the Internship Instructor
- Provide input on the objectives and field experience activities.
- Serve as a resource for the student.
- If necessary, serve as mediator between the student and site supervisor.
- Assign grade in a timely manner after approval of final paper.
The Role of the Site Supervisor
- Provide input on the internship activities.
- Be the "on-site" point person (supervisor), to give guidance and direction to the intern during the project and provide feedback along the way.
- Submit a brief evaluation based on your experience with this internship. There is no standard format for the evaluation except that the letter be signed and on the organization's letterhead. Content is at the discretion of the site supervisor but might include such things as the intern's working relationships, the value of the experience for your organization and for the student, the extent of satisfaction with completion of the terms of the contract and with any finished product that was delivered by the intern. We would also greatly appreciate knowing if you would be interested in providing internship opportunities for future interns.
Program Coordinator
Dr. Shari Peterson
Coordinator, work and human resource education program
Phone: 612-624-4980
Email: peter007@umn.edu
Revised November 2011