We are proud of how our interns support the efforts of local non-profit organizations. Two notable programs contribute in this regard. We have supported 16 students with Anderson Non-Profit Scholarships, allowing students to work at non-profits that could not offer paid internships. For a full list of non-profit organizations that have hosted interns with Anderson Non-Profit Scholarships, please see Appendix A. Another important program in the non-profit sector is the VITA/CAP Services income-tax preparation program. After passing an exam, students assist taxpayers unable to afford professional tax-preparation services. 2019-20 ACTIVITIES During this past year, our interns worked at 123 organizations, including 37 publicly-traded companies. For a list of all organizations hosting interns during the past year, please see Appendix B.
MUNDT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Ricardo Boeing, Ph.D. Internship Director School of Business and Economics
Since fall 2019, in conjunction with the opening of the C2C Center, every School of Business and Economics major is required to complete an internship before graduation. The SBE internship program gives students real work experience before they graduate. It allows students to work with companies that are in the Stevens Point area, including Skyward, Northwestern Mutual and Sentry Insurance, as well as others across the state, country and even the world. 2017-20 HIGHLIGHTS
A review of our internship placements from 2017-20 shows both the breadth and depth of the program.
NEW INITIATIVES We made substantial improvements and additions to the Internship Program within the last year, including: • Internship Expo. Upon completion of their internships, our interns present to their fellow students at an Internship Expo. After a trial Expo in May 2019, we launched our permanent schedule in 2019-20 of three events per year for interns in fall, spring and summer terms; the last scheduled Internship Expo was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Interns present, poster-style, on the work they did at their jobs and the links to their classes. A total of 177 students have had this valuable experience of convention-style presenting. Upcoming students can learn about the value of internships as well as meet company representatives. Our business partners appreciate the publicity for their organizations and the conversations with prospective interns. • Online submission of internship application and materials. Our new procedure is easier for the students and allows better tracking of applications. • SCORE. We have provided stipends to two students interning with this organization of volunteer mentors for entrepreneurs. The students have learned about the challenges of running a business while also assisting entrepreneurs, thus helping others while adding to their own knowledge. • Online surveys of interns and employers upon completion of internships. From these surveys we learned that 60% of our interns received full-time job offers at the end of their internships and nearly all other interns would have received offers if full-time positions had been available. All students reported that their internship experiences had been beneficial. 2020-21 PLANS
We see the greatest number of internships in summer because this is when students have the most time to work. Our spring session is busy with accounting internships due to the tax season rush. Fall internships are mostly business internships from around the area of Stevens Point, often with organizations looking to hire students after December graduation.
Mundt Internships
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
TOTAL
Summer
n/a
80 41 46
76 25 38
156
Fall
27 22 49
93
Spring TOTAL
106 355
167
139
Our interns are making an impact in the local economy and beyond. Since 2017, 231 (65%) of our interns have worked in Central Wisconsin and, more specifically, 167 (47%) have worked in the Stevens Point/ Plover area. In summer, we see internships from places as far away as Hawaii and Oman. Interns from SBE have worked at companies both large and small. A total of 54 students (15.2%) have interned at Fortune 1000 companies, including 32 students (9%) who had the opportunity to work with Fortune 500 companies. Some Fortune 500 companies that students have interned with are Northwestern Mutual, American Family Insurance Company, U.S. Bank and Sherwin Williams. Sentry Insurance is a Fortune 1000 company that hosts many of our interns. At the same time, 29 students (8.1%) have interned at family businesses—oftentimes, businesses owned by their own families.
We expect to be making progress on many fronts in the coming year, including: • Expanding relationships with large (e.g. Fortune 500) companies. • Expanding internship services to data analytics students. • Increasing student awareness of available internships. • Adapting our events and processes to online formats. • Encouraging and supporting companies as they offer “virtual” internships.
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Anderson Classroom to Career Center
Annual Report 2019-2020
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