The Manager's Role
The Student Internship Program (SIP) manager must oversee the program from beginning to end, which includes developing the vision, establishing preliminary relationships, suggesting project ideas and drafting work plans. This role also involves securing sponsors, mentors and funders as well as ensuring consistency across internships, communication between students working on related projects, and accountability of interns. The person who fills this role must make sure that each intern has adequate management, advisors and resources to carry out their project duties. The SIP manager will also need to handle intern recruitment, the hiring process, budgets, and logistics like securing space, computer and telephone services for the intern.
Laying the Groundwork
The first thing that the SIP manager needs to do is learn as much as they can about various departments that might be willing and able to sponsor a summer student intern. Facility, real estate, custodial, transportation, environmental health and safety, engineering and utilities, food services, dormitory management and procurement departments are all good candidates.
Before even mentioning the idea of sponsoring a student intern, the Harvard Green Campus Initiative Director spent 6 to 12 months meeting with a wide range of departments and getting to know a number of key department managers. Conversations focused on developing a shared understanding of how departments functioned, what their core environmental impact areas were, and what the level of interest was in doing something to actively reduce these impacts.
The idea of sponsoring a student intern was offered up as one of many potential ideas for moving forward. Some departments were quick to see a student intern as one of the most promising options for helping them address their environmental impacts.