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Springfield, MO
A Missouri State University program that brings together graduate students and local employers is growing after an extended pilot launch.
Jerry Masterson, director of graduate interdisciplinary programs at MSU, said he and his wife, Julie Masterson, Graduate College dean and associate provost, collaborated on a Community Graduate Assistantships program that goes beyond a typical eight- to 10-week student internship. It launched in fall 2022 and gives students financial assistance and hands-on experience for at least a full academic year.
“Internships are typically very short term. I always laugh and say that once the intern finds the restroom and learns their way around the building, it’s over,” he said.
Masterson said targeting graduate students for the program provides companies the opportunity to contract with MSU for up to two years. The graduate assistants are employees of the university, and the business partner serves as a host company.
The first year of the program had two GAs working, followed by seven for the 2023-24 academic year. This year is the biggest yet, Masterson said.
“We have 10 currently and we have three people currently looking for GAs and getting ready to sign a contract,” he said, noting those include Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. and CNH Reman LLC. Bass Pro Shops and architectural firm Arkifex Studios LLC are among companies that have participated in the program.
“They are in what I kind of call an extended interview process,” Masterson said. “So, you have them up to two years and if you like them the first year you can hire them the second year. It’s basically on-the-job training at the same time.”
Participating companies sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship. Rates for the 2024-25 academic year range $20,930-$23,250 per student, which is paid to MSU by the participating companies. In turn, the university pays the graduate assistant’s tuition, fees and stipend. Additional costs such as mileage or supplies may be included in the contract if required for the position. Officials say the contract serves as accountability for the earn-and-learn program, making sure that the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience.
Masterson said the program only costs MSU time, adding the university doesn’t financially benefit from it. Julie Masterson said the graduate college had 4,295 students as of last year’s census.
“We act as the (human resources) department. Once you sign a contract with us, basically that’s all you have to do,” Masterson said, adding MSU hasn’t tracked job placement data for the GA participants over the first two years of the program. “You give us a one-time payment, and everything’s taken care of. They don’t have to get any medical or anything from your HR department. They are basically MSU employees that you are renting.”
Increased interest
Last academic year was essentially a testing of the waters for CoxHealth, as the health care provider had one GA, who worked in the project management office, said Ryan Morris, director of the Center for Professional Development for CoxHealth. When MSU’s new academic year started in August, CoxHealth’s GA count in the program increased to five.
Morris said two of the students are working in administrative roles with Cox Medical Group, two are in the clinical research space and one is involved in orthopedics, assisting athletic trainers in the coordination and administration of care for patients.
“They’ll be with us through the fall and the spring semesters initially, and then, of course, we’ll have follow-up conversations beyond that to see about future work,” he said. “In a lot of ways, this is a working interview that we give these students for an entire year. The second arm to that is depending upon where they’re at in their journey, some of these students might have the opportunity to transition directly into roles here at CoxHealth. Some folks might learn this isn’t exactly what they thought they wanted to do.”
Morris said the program also has built-in progression opportunities for the students who might be able to transition to different roles to match their second-year academic studies.
Internships are common for CoxHealth, including a 10-week nonallied health internship program it launched last year, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. It was around that time Morris said MSU approached the health system about the community GA program.
“We felt that was a really great way to engage with that population of people,” he said of GAs. “We found that they’re extremely innovative and they’re in that process of matching some of those things that they’re learning from an academic stance and into some of the industry practice.”
Valuable experiences
CNH Reman became involved with the program last year, and MSU graduate student Asra Kulsum started work in April 2023, said Kelly Robertson, director of information technology for the manufacturing company. Kulsum’s first contract ended in May and CNH Reman signed a new contract to retain her through December, at which point she will graduate with her master’s degree in computer science.
Robertson said Kulsum is a key member of the IT team and is involved in the company’s enterprise resource planning software system upgrade.
“Asra has had the opportunity to work with almost every module within our ERP system, work with CNH Reman associates from all aspects of the business and participate in our aggressive cross-training for the IT department as a whole,” Robertson said via email. “These are all valuable experiences that she will be able to take with her as she transitions into her IT career.”
Robertson said she is working on a contract to have another GA start in 2025 with the hopes the student can stay for up to two years.
“We are looking to expand the GA program into other areas such as engineering,” she said, adding the program helps the company bridge what students are learning in the classroom and applying their skills to the business. “I am very excited to see my peers looking at the success we have had in IT and duplicating [it] in their departments.”
Because MSU serves as the intermediary, Masterson said if any issues crop up between the company and the GA, the university will handle them.
“We’re in contact pretty much all the time,” he said, adding MSU representatives also visit all the participating workplaces twice a year. “The contract runs through the academic year. If the business wants to extend that and say they want to work through the summer, we work with them on that.”
Masterson expects more growth ahead for the GA program, which he sees as a mutually beneficial workforce development option. MSU officials would like to see the program grow to 15-20 students for next year. They believe they can handle as many placements as they can get, at least for the next couple of years.
“Basically, the community gets talent at a massively reduced cost, and they don’t have to worry about the HR components or anything like that,” he said. “The student is not just sitting doing a graduate assistantship at the university like grading papers, filing or something like that. They’re actually working in the industry where they are being trained to work.”
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