Internship Experience in Agricultural Economics
Course Syllabus
AgEc 4940
“An internship is any carefully monitored work or service experience in which an individual has
intentional learning goals and reflects activity on what he or she is learning throughout the experience.”
The National Society for Experiential Education
Instructor Contact:
Jill Moreland
Instructor
Office: 203 Mumford Hall
Phone: 573-884-1756
Email: morelandj@missouri.edu
Learning Outcomes:
The academic assignments are specifically designed with the intent to enrich the learning experience throughout
your internship.
 Student will complete assignments that encourage in-depth reflection of the internship experience.
 Student will gain self-understanding, self-confidence, and interpersonal skills.
 Student will develop work competencies for a specific profession or occupation.
 Student will explore career options, and gain work experience.
 Student will exhibit leadership and other interpersonal skills needed for career placement and advancement.
Academic Internship Grade Calculation
In order to make an accurate and complete assessment of each student’s effort and abilities, course grades are
determined by a variety of measures (see below). Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) will be the final grade for
AgEc4940. Seventy five percent or higher will merit an S for the courses, while anything less than 75% will merit
in a U for the courses.
MEASURE
EXPLANATION
Internship Experience Presentation

Employer Performance Evaluation*
Student Performance Evaluation*
Case Studies
Points
Possible

PowerPoint & Oral Presentation
Evaluation Form
100

Evaluation Form
100


Landing the Job
Salary Negotiation
50
50
200
 Final Reflection Paper (5 page paper)
Total
*Required to receive a passing grade for this course.
Reflection Paper
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50
550
PowerPoint & Oral Presentation
Each student will develop a PowerPoint presentation of your internship experience. This twenty slide visual is to
represent your work experience, include information about the company (maximum of 5 slides), and give the
audience an overview of what your experience entailed. You must incorporate in high resolution images (iStock or
personal photos), include notes within the “notes” section of PowerPoint, and choose a professional PPT template.
Students will present their PowerPoint outlining their internship experience in AgEc 1010, the agribusiness seminar
course (other courses may be identified). This will allow you to showcase your company and inform students of the
opportunities available to them. Your presentation is to last no more than 15 minutes including Q&A’s. The
instructor will contact you to set up a date and time for the presentation.
Performance Evaluations
To receive a passing grade, each student must submit the student and employer evaluation form. The student
performance evaluation will be sent out electronically to your employer requesting the document be completed and
returned by a specified date. Both the student and employer evaluation forms will remain confidential.
Case Study 1 - Landing the Job
Securing an internship or full-time position requires lots of preparation and work prior to the arriving at the
interview. The Undercover Recruiter provides tips on how to ace the interview and secure the position. Review the
tips offered and write one page explaining how you prepared for your interview addressing all aspects within the
article (professional dress, interview questions, body language, and post interview follow-up). For example, did the
employer present you with any “tough” questions that you were not expecting? Did you follow-up after your
interview with a thank you note? Were you conscious of your body language while interviewing and try to restrain
from nervous crutches? Did you come to the interview in professional dress that was freshly ironed and fit
appropriately?
Case Study 2 - Salary Negotiation
There are things in life that are outside our comfort zone and that we will avoid at all cause if able, generally
because we’re unsure how to approach the topic or simply feel uncomfortable being in the driver’s seat. Salary
negotiation is a topic that many people dread and even disregard in some cases simply because they don’t want to
address the topic.
You completed a series of successful interviews with a company, received the phone call with a verbal job
offer/commitment, and now the ball is in your court and you need to negotiate out a salary that is comparable to
your skill-set. New York Career Coach Ellis Chase, who wrote the book, In Search of the Fun-Forever Job: Career
Strategies That Work that includes a chapter on negotiating salary. Your assignment is to read two Forbes articles
"How To Negotiate Your Salary Once You Have The Job Offer" and “Should You Bring Up Salary In A Job
Interview?” and compare the information presented by Chase and Adams. Complete your comparison in one page
and discuss when you think salary should be talked about? Do you feel comfortable negotiating salary?
Final Reflection Paper
The three page final reflection paper provides students an opportunity to reflect on the entire internship experience.
The paper should assess your internship experience as a whole. What did you learn? Were the agency and/or
supervisors helpful in providing a meaningful experience? How did your internship help you develop
professionally? Has your attitude or career goals changed, if so, how? Reflecting back on the internship process
from the time the application was completed to the end of your internship, which part did you like and dislike, and
why? If you were to change anything about the internship, what would you change? What course(s) most prepared
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you for your internship experience and what course(s) that you haven’t taken, would have been beneficial in your
experience? How did you land your internship experience (career fair, hiremizzoutigers.com, etc.)?
Name Preference
You can change your preferred first and middle name electronically on my Zou. If you are interested in this option,
you may officially communicate this preference by following the procedure below. Your preferred name will show
in the class and grade rosters for faculty, to you and others in the Student Center within myZou, and in Outlook for
your email.
NOTE: This option is not required. It is available if you prefer to be called by something other than your
legal name.
To add or update a preferred name:
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




Go to your Student Center in myZou
Click on ‘Names’ under the Personal Information Section
Click ‘Add a new name’
Select preferred as ‘Name Type’
Enter first name (and middle if desired)
Save
Your Pawprint and password will not change. If you have previously updated your preferred name in Blackboard
you will need to update it in myZou for it to continue to appear in Blackboard.
Changing the preferred name will not change your legal name. It will not appear on your MU ID card, your
transcript or diploma. If you wish to change your legal name, we recommend that you visit Student Legal Services at
2500 MU Student Center or go to http://mizzoulife.missouri.edu/student-legal-services/ for further information.
Academic Integrity Policy
Academic honesty is fundamental to the activities and principles of a University. All members of the academic
community must be confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and
presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is
successful. The academic community regards academic dishonesty as an extremely serious matter, with serious
consequences that range from probation to expulsion. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, or
collaboration, consult the course instructor. Academic Dishonesty includes but is not necessarily limited to the
following:
A. Cheating or knowingly assisting another student in committing an act of cheating or other academic
dishonesty.
B. Plagiarism which includes but is not necessarily limited to submitting examinations, themes, reports,
drawings, laboratory notes, or other material as one's own work when such work has been prepared by
another person or copied from another person.
C. Unauthorized possession of examinations or reserve library materials, or laboratory materials or
experiments, or any other similar actions.
D. Unauthorized changing of grades or markings on an examination or in an instructor's grade book or such
change of any grade report.
Academic Integrity Pledge: "I strive to uphold the University values of respect, responsibility, discovery, and
excellence. On my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work."
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Students are expected to adhere to this pledge on all graded work whether or not they are explicitly asked in
advance to do so.
The University has specific academic dishonesty administrative procedures. Although policy states that cases of
academic dishonesty must be reported to the Office of the Provost for possible action, the instructor may assign a
failing grade for the assignment or a failing grade for the course, or may adjust the grade as deemed appropriate. The
instructor also may require the student to repeat the assignment or to perform additional assignments. In instances
where academic integrity is in question, faculty, staff and students should refer to Article VI of the Faculty
Handbook. Article VI is also available in the M-Book. Article VI provides further information regarding the process
by which violations are handled and sets forth a standard of excellence in our community.
Any student who utilizes the unauthorized work of others or is caught plagiarizing will receive a zero on the
assignment and be reported to the University of Missouri, Office of the Provost.
Restrictions on Disclosure and Distribution
Students may make audio or video recordings of course activity unless specifically prohibited by the faculty
member. To foster a safe environment for learning, however, the redistribution of audio or video recordings of
statements or comments from the course to individuals who are not students in the course is prohibited without the
express permission of the faculty member and of any students who are recorded. Unauthorized distribution of such
materials is a violation of academic standards and may violate copyright laws and/or privacy rights. Students found
to have violated this policy are subject to discipline in accordance with the provisions of Section 200.020 of the
Collected Rules and Regulations of the University of Missouri pertaining to student conduct matters.
University of Missouri Notice of Nondiscrimination
The University of Missouri System is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action institution and is nondiscriminatory
relative to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability or status as a Vietnam-era
veteran. Any person having inquiries concerning the University of Missouri's compliance with implementing Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, or other civil rights laws should contact
the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Human Resource Services, University of Missouri, 1095 Virginia Avenue, Columbia,
MO. 65211, 573-882-4256, or the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education.
Students with Disabilities (Residential & Online Courses)
If you anticipate barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, if you have emergency medical
information to share with me, or if you need to make arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please let
me know as soon as possible.
If disability related accommodations are necessary (for example, a note taker, extended time on exams, captioning),
please register with the Office of Disability Services (http://disabilityservices.missouri.edu), S5 Memorial Union,
573- 882-4696, and then notify me of your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. For other MU resources for
students with disabilities, click on "Disability Resources" on the MU homepage.
Intellectual Pluralism Statement
The University community welcomes intellectual diversity and respects student rights. Students who have questions
concerning the quality of instruction in this class may address concerns to either the Departmental Chair or
Divisional leader or Director of the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities (http://osrr.missouri.edu/). All
students will have the opportunity to submit an anonymous evaluation of the instructor(s) at the end of the course.
Grievance Policy
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Information concerning student grade appeal procedures and non-academic grievances and appeals may be found in
the Student Handbook (http://mizzoulife.missouri.edu/resources/m-book/).
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