Field Experience

An education is not just about sitting in class and listening to lectures. It's also about what you do outside of class in less structured learning environments like student clubs, international opportunities, and research projects. Two important experiential learning opportunities are internships and field experience. In fact, many employers say that field experience, previous work, or internship experience has a significant impact on their hiring decisions. These types of opportunities show that you're able to take what you learned in class and apply it to real-world situations. Depending on your track in ESPM, you will be required to complete at least one field experience and/or internship in order to graduate.

Internships (ESPM 4096: Professional Experience)

Many employers expect students to have at least one, if not two or three internships by the time they graduate. Most ESPM students are able to fulfill the major's internship requirement by finding a full-time summer job related to their studies. They might work for a government agency, national park, environment education center, private company, consulting firm, or non-profit organization. These positions are often paid a competitive wage that averages about $10.00 per hour depending on the employer and responsibilities. Internships are not only a great way for employers to see whether they might want to hire you full-time after graduation, they also allow you to learn what kinds of tasks you enjoy and help you identify future positions that are a good fit for your interests.

Career Resources

The St. Paul Campus Career Center is a great resource for career exploration, finding internships, reviewing resumes and cover letters, and preparing for interviews. You can also register to receive new job postings to your e-mail account through the University's online job posting service, GoldPASS. Once you have landed an internship, you will need to read the instructions and complete the ESPM Internship Contract before you start your internship in order to receive credit for ESPM 4096. This helps to ensure that your internship will be a meaningful learning experience and that any problems encountered can be addressed in a timely manner.

For specific questions regarding internships, please contact:

• Professor Terry Cooper: tcooper@umn.edu or 612-625-7747

Hands-on Field Sessions

What better way to bring classroom knowledge to life than gaining hands-on field experience in the great outdoors? There are a wide range of courses to chose from that fulfill the ESPM major's field experience requirement. You could join the soil judging team, test your information-gathering skills using GIS (Geographic Information Systems), learn water sampling techniques, or attend field sessions at one of several research centers around the state.

The Cloquet Forestry Center is the site of the annual 3-week Summer Field Session. While a number of majors use the Center for field classes, ESPM students take the Forest Resource Program that covers forest ecology, resource assessment, and plant taxonomy. Most students complete the Cloquet Field Session the summer after their freshmen or sophomore year. In addition to Cloquet, there are also a number of field biology and ecology courses offered at the Itasca Biological Station during the summer months.