University of Georgia
UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
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Internships

For-credit internship experiences provide students with progressively challenging work activities and significant learning opportunities related to their major. The organization should provide solid orientation, training, supervision, and feedback throughout the experience.

AAEC Internship Application & Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Deadlines

  • Fall Internships
    • Application period May 1-July 15
    • Edit deadline August 1
    • Signed MOU due July 21
  • Spring Internships
    • Application period September 1-December 1
    • Edit deadline December 15
    • Signed MOU due December 7
  • Summer Internships
    • Application period January 1-April 15
    • Edit deadline May 1
    • Signed MOU due April 21
     

Since it can take up to 4-6 weeks to get an internship MOU approved through the UGA Office of Legal Affairs, it is imperative that students adhere to these deadlines.  If for a valid reason you missed a deadline (e.g., circumstances outside of your control), you can submit a petition. 

After the start of the semester during which a student would like to do an internship for credit, late applications will only be considered if an MOU for the company or organization is already in place with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 

 

Internship Application Process  

  1. Talk to your Academic Advisor to see where an internship best fits into your program of study and schedule.  Make sure you satisfy all the pre-requisite courses.
  2. After you have secured an internship, complete the online application during the appropriate application period by clicking on the "Apply Now" button.
  3. Completed applications will be sent to the Internship Faculty Advisor for approval.  Internships should provide students with significant learning opportunities specific to their major and be approximately 200 hours of work.
  4. If approved by the Internship Faculty Advisor AND the internship is with a UGA facility OR a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is already in place, you will receive an email from the department informing you that you may now register for the course in ATHENA. To see if a MOU is already in place for the business or organization where you will intern, visit the CAES Academic EL Credit website and note the expiration date.
  5. If approved by the Internship Faculty Advisor and a MOU is needed, please contact Catie Young, Department Administrative Manager, for the current MOU template. The MOU must be signed by the site/organization and returned to Catie for processing.    
  6. After the MOU has completed the routing process, the department will send you an email informing you that you may now register for the course in ATHENA. 
  7. Once registered, email your Internship Faculty Advisor to receive the current syllabus.  It is up to the student to ensure that all materials are turned in by the deadlines outlined in the course syllabus.  
Please note:
UGA policy states that a MOU must be signed by both the internship site/organization and the UGA Office of Legal Affairs before a student is allowed to register for an internship course and begin the position.  Therefore, it is extremely important to begin the MOU process as early as possible as this process can take six weeks or more to complete. 
 

Additional Information, Guidance and Common Questions

Internship Courses
  • AAEC 3910 - Agribusiness Internship
  • ENVM 3910 - Environmental Economics & Management Internship
  • HFIM 3910 - Hospitality Management Internship
  • HFIM 3912 - Food and Beverage Management Internship
  • HFIM 3913 - Facilities Management Internship
  • HFIM 3914 - Hotel and Lodging Management Internship
Hospitality and Food Industry Management (HFIM) majors are required to take at least 2 HFIM internship courses (6 hours).
 
Three credit hours of AAEC 3910 may count towards "Major Electives" for the Agribusiness and Agricultural & Applied Economics majors. 
 
Three credit hours of ENVM 3910 may count towards "Major Electives" for the Environmental Economics & Management major. 
 
AAEC 3910 and ENVM 3910 can also be counted towards "General Electives."
 
All AAEC, ENVM, and HFIM internship courses satisfy the UGA Experimental Learning Requirement. 
 
How to Find an Internship?
 
1.  Advertised Internships: A limited number of companies, agencies and organizations advertise for interns on a regular or irregular basis.  The UGA Career Center in Clark Howell Hall maintains a list of advertised internship positions through HANDSHAKE and is a good place to begin searching for an advertised position.  You should also talk to the Career Consultant in the Career Center who is assigned to the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences for advice and information on an internship.  See Career Center links below for more information:
 
 
The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences also provides internship listings and resources at the link below:
 
    
We also try to email internship announcements to the department undergraduate major UGAMail listserv, which is another good reason to regularly check your student UGAMail.  There are also several websites where you can find national and international internship postings.  To find these, do an Internet search with the keywords for the type of internship or summer job you are seeking.  For example, use keywords like "natural resources, environment, conservation, sustainability" for ENVM 3910-related internships and summer jobs.  Use keywords like "agriculture, agribusiness, farm credit, farm suppliers" for AAEC 3910-relate internships and summer jobs.  Use keywords like "hospitality, resorts, hotels, lodges, food services, event planning" for internships and summer jobs related to the HFIM-related internship courses.
For U.S. Federal government listing, go to:   https://www.usajobs.gov and search under the keyword, "internships" and "summer jobs".
 
2.  Unadvertised Internships: As is the case with permanent job opportunities, many internship opportunities are unadvertised.  The process for finding and securing an unadvertised internship is the same process you would follow for finding and securing a permanent, unadvertised internship job after graduation.  Thus, the search for an unadvertised internship should be viewed as a "dry-run" and practice for your permanent job search. 
  • Develop Professional Resume - The Career Center in Clark Howell Hall can provide basic information on how to write a professional resume.
  • Develop a list of Prospective Internship or Job Employers - The Career Center in Clark Howell has information on prospective employers for students in our department majors. 
  • Send your resume and cover letter to each prospective employer stating your interest in an intern position.
  • Follow-up with a phone call or visit to prospective employer to demonstrate and express your interest in working for the company, agency or organization as a intern.
Do you already have a summer or regular school year job?  It may be possible to receive internship credit for a job you already have - check with the Internship Faculty Advisor for more information.
 
Pro Tip:  Ask your personal contact (parents, extended family, family friends, social contacts, club contacts, team contacts, fraternity/sorority contacts, etc) if they know about internship and (or) summer job opportunities.   
 
How to Obtain Academic Credit for an Internship?
(Note: taking an internship course for academic credit also satisfies the Experimental Learning Requirement).
 
After you have identified an internship (or summer job) position of interest, to obtain academic credit for this internship (or summer job), it is the student's responsibility to follow the steps below in the order presented.
 
  1.   Talk to your Academic Advisor to see where an internship best fits into your program of study and schedule.  During this conversation with your Academic Advisor, make sure you satisfy all the prerequisites for an internship course (e.g., 3rd year standing; specific prerequisite courses).  
  2. After talking with your Academic Advisor, if you have specific follow-up questions regarding an internship course, email the AAEC, ENVM, or HFIM Internship Faculty Advisor with your specific questions.
The Internship Faculty Advisor for AAEC 3910 and ENVM 3910 is Dr. Octavio Ramirez (oramirez@uga.edu)
The Internship Faculty Advisor for HFIM 3910, 3912, 3913 and 3914 is Dr. John Salazar (jsalazar@uga.edu).
 
  3.  After completing steps 1 and 2, complete the online internship application by the application deadline for a particular semester posted on the Department Internship webpage: The application will automatically be sent to the appropriate Internship Faculty Advisor for their approval. 
 
   4. If the internship (or summer job) is approved by the Internship Faculty Advisor AND the internship is with UGA (such as with the Georgia Center for Continuing Education) OR a MOU is already in place, you will receive an email from the Department letting you know you may now register for the appropriate internship course in ATHENA. 
 
To see if a MOU is already in place for the business or organization you will be working for, visit the CAES Academic and EL Credit webpage and note the expiration date.
 
  5. If the internship (or summer job)  is approved by the Internship Faculty Advisor and the conditions stated in 4 above regarding the need for a MOU are not met, you will be contacted by the Department and given the template MOU to be signed by the site/employer and instructions for processing.  Once you have the necessary signatures, send an email to Catherine (Catie) Young, Department  Administrative Manager, youngcat@uga.edu.  She will route your MOU through the signature process with the Office of Legal Affairs.
 
     According to UGA policy, the MOU must be signed by both the Employer and the UGA Office of Legal Affairs before a student is allowed to register for an internship course and begin the internship position.   It is extremely important that the student start the MOU process early as it can take 6 weeks or more for the entire process to be completed. 
 
      After the MOU has completed the routing process, the Department will send you an email stating that you have been given a Permission of Department (POD) override which will allow you to register for the course in ATHENA. 
 
Problems?
If you need more information and/or are having problems with any of the above steps, email the Faculty Internship Advisor and/or the Department Undergraduate Coordinator,
Dr. John Bergstrom, (jberg@uga.edu) for assistance. 
 

Internship Opportunities by Major


CAES Internship Opportunities

Learn more about additional internship opportunities with CAES.

More internships