CAMBRIDGE - This spring, the University of Maryland Extension will hire the second cohort for “Creating Leadership and Professional Development Through Extension Internships” for summer 2023.

The University of Maryland Extension received a grant on April 15, 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 will provide meaningful and technical skills to students at underserved institutions, community colleges or non-Land Grant institutions to train a future agricultural workforce.

University of Maryland Extension created a summer internship program with seven interns annually paired with competent mentors; interns will gain hands-on experience and participate in leadership and professional development training. The project will address the eight core competencies in career readiness.

Along with professional development and one-on-one pairing with a faculty mentor, interns will have networking opportunities with private industry professionals. The experience will be a 10-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 creating 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 continuing their education and entering the agricultural workforce.

The application for the summer internship is open. For more information and to apply, visit go.umd.edu/extensioninternships.

Shannon Dill, PI, is the project director. Co-PIs include Dr. Nicole Fiorellino, Dr. Sarah Potts and Dr. Alan Leslie.

Program contacts: Shannon Dill, Extension educator – AgFS, 410-822-1244, sdill@umd.edu

Andrea Franchini, program coordinator, 410-856-1850 ext. 126, andrea1@umd.edu

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.