Summer Internships Provide EDAD Students With Hands-on Experience

16 Jun 2022     By Dijon DeLaPorte

Graduate students in the Master of Arts (M.A.) in educational administration program with a specialization in student affairs administration (often called the "Student Affairs program" for short), are required to enroll in the EDAD 998: Student Affairs Internship course as part of the course sequence. This course provides students with hands-on experience that may or may not be similar to the work that they complete in their graduate assistantships. Some students complete internships close to Lincoln while others travel to different parts of the country. The four students highlighted in this story all pursued very different opportunities this summer.

Originally from Nepal, Yajyoo Shrestha completed his graduate assistantship this past year with University Housing. This summer Yajyoo traveled to Columbia University in New York City where he served as a Conference Housing Operations Manager. Yayjoo describes the internship as follows, “My internship at Columbia University this summer has truly been a rich experience in every way. With 3.5 years of Residence Life experience in UNL already under my belt, I am adding on to my knowledge of Housing Operations through Conference Housing at Columbia. Working in the fast-paced city of New York, and managing around 30 conferences with 2,000 attendees has been a change of pace from the life I was used to in Lincoln. I am grateful for this opportunity for my professional growth.”

Originally from Nebraska, Bethany Meyers completed her graduate assistantship this past year with EDAD. This summer Bethany stayed at UNL to work with the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards. Bethany describes the internship as follows, "This summer I am interning in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards here at UNL. I have always been interested in student conduct and the role the department plays in Student Affairs. So far, I have had the opportunity to shadow the University Conduct Board, hear student conduct cases, and learn more about how the Code of Conduct works. My big summer project is assisting in the creation of an Investigations Team that will help in large-scale student organization investigations! I am very excited to be working on this project and to see it implemented in the future!"

Originally from Michigan, Hayley Smalec completed her graduate assistantship this past year with the Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services (OASIS). This summer Haley returned to Michigan to work at Michigan Technological University to support their Center for Diversity and Inclusion at the Michigan College and University Partnership program, as well as Residence Education and Housing Services. Hayley describes the internship in the following way, “My internship is unique because I get to work with two different offices on campus. I am with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion working on the Michigan College and University Partnership (MiCUP) Program. This is a great opportunity as it allows me to work with community college students one on one and gain experience working with a grant-funded program. Additionally, I am working with Residence Education and Housing Services to help create their resident learning model for the upcoming school year. This has been an amazing opportunity to create a curriculum and gain residence life experience. So far it has been an amazing summer working with students and exploring Michigan's Upper Peninsula!”

Originally from Nebraska, Devin Johansen completed his graduate assistantship this past year with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. This summer Devin traveled to the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg to work with their orientation team. Devin describes the internship as, “Working with the orientation team at USF St. Petersburg has been invaluable for me. As someone who will be applying for jobs next year, this experience is helping me narrow down my career focus, while also getting a chance to see how another institution runs. The students and professional staff have been fantastic as well. I felt welcomed and supported as soon as I arrived.”

The Student Affairs program is an on-campus program that is 43 credits in length. The program is designed for students to be enrolled full-time for two consecutive academic years and hold graduate assistantships. Students in this program are required to complete one internship which is usually completed in the summer between their first and second year of this two-year program.