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Managing Internships

Intern Communication

Proper communication between the interns, EMBI, and the sponsoring organization are crucial for the project to be successful. By following the following procedures, an intern will make their project run more smoothly. Downloadable versions of the management guidelines are available for interns and for supervisors (See the menu at left).

Daily Work Log

The interns should keep a daily log in either a notebook, or a word file of what has been worked on each day. Some examples of what could be recorded include what has been worked on for the day, technical questions that arose, any observations, data, or assumptions, as well as any meetings attended during the day. Also, keeping a separate page or document as a list of resource people, their contact information, as well as their areas of expertise will be helpful to the intern.

Bi-Weekly Progress Reports

The intern should send bi-weekly progress reports to the EMBI Advisor and provide the supervisor at the sponsoring organization the opportunity to receive these reports as well. These reports should include a short explanation of what the intern has been doing, as well as any conclusions or results that have been obtained. The intern should send these reports every other Friday afternoon, unless a different reporting schedule with the EMBI advisor has been agreed upon.

Meetings

Interns should meet with their supervisor at the sponsoring organization on a frequent basis and also should have regular, bi-weekly meetings with their EMBI advisor. The meetings may take place at UWGB, the interns' sponsoring organization, or over the phone.

Internship Projects

Goals

Due to the wide variety of sponsoring organizations an intern might work at for EMBI, each intern should establish specific goals to complete his or her project. These goals should be reasonable and attainable, and most likely unique, compared to other interns at other sponsoring organizations. At the end of the project, look over these goals, and determine if they were too vague, too specific, not realistic, etc., or if they were manageable goals.

Objectives

Due to the uniqueness of each project, the objectives will be accomplished in different ways and to different extents. However, the broad objectives of each project should be as follows:

  • Identify projects and opportunities that are important to the sponsoring organization.
  • Research the feasibility of all possible solutions by talking to employees, distributers, management, and anyone else who may be able to help. Keep in mind that the employees are much more familiar with the manufacturing processes, so respect their opinion.
  • Analyze opportunities from a technical and economic perspective to determine the feasibility of implementation.
  • Implement any technically feasible, cost effective solutions if time allows.

In the timeline developed with the supervisor at the beginning of your project, interns should be sure to address these objectives, and the specific goals. The end result should be a positive learning experience for the intern and costeffective solutions for the sponsoring partner organization.

Final Report

A final report is something that the intern will be working on throughout the internship. The final report will be completed by the time the internship ends. The intern will also present the project, once for the sponsoring organization, and once for the EMBI. The final report and presentation should be comprehensive and thoroughly explain the problem(s), the steps taken to find a solution, the solutions found, the feasibility of the solutions, and to what level the solutions have or will be implemented.

Interns will make the final report as comprehensive as possible. Interns should attempt to thoroughly explain their reasoning for each step that was completed. The report should provide enough information so that EMBI can implement the changes the intern made in similar situations that may occur with future internships. Also interns should make sure to let their EMBI advisor and supervisor review the draft report to ensure it is being written correctly and following the appropriate format.

One copy of the final report will be submitted to the sponsoring organization with as much specific information as possible. Another copy of the final report will be submitted to the EMBI, but the supervisor at the sponsoring organization reviews the document so that it does not include any proprietary information. These reports must be submitted before the end of the internship.

EMBI interns should review "Final Report Design" for layout guidelines.

Final Presentations

Sponsoring organization Presentation and Business Institute

The purpose of the sponsoring organization presentation is to assure the employees of the sponsoring organization that the ideas are viable options for the sponsoring organization to pursue. Interns will invite the supervisor at the sponsoring organization, any employees who will be directly involved with any changes, and any upper management who will directly affect any decision to make changes. Interns will be flexible and accommodating with the sponsoring organization as to length of presentation, as well as place and time of the presentation and will look to your guidance. The presentation will include the purpose of the project, what processes were looked at changing, the intern recommendations, and a defense of the intern recommendations. Also, a summary of the personal benefits attained from the EMBI Internship Program will be included. Time for questions will be allowed.

EMBI Presentation

A separate EMBI presentation will be attended by the EMBI advisor, other EMBI personnel, and possibly by other members from campus and the community. The sponsoring organization supervisor and anyone else who helped with the project will be invited as well. The intern will have twenty minutes to present, and five minutes to answer questions. The intern will include allimportant information from the report, without revealing any proprietary information. The intern will be provided with a PowerPoint template and will present along with the other EMBI interns. Photographs may be included in the presentation, but only with the sponsoring organization's approval. Also, the intern may be photographed, video recorded, and/or audio recorded during the presentation.