Southeastern graduate and Chick-fil-A executive recruits students for internship opportunities
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES – Rob Dugas, vice president and chief procurement officer for Chick-fil-A, discusses his company with Chelsie Reed, a junior supply chain management major from Gonzales, on campus at Southeastern Louisiana University. Dugas, a Southeastern graduate, was on campus to meet with Southeastern students about summer corporate internship opportunities at Chick-fil-A.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University graduate and Chick-fil-A Chief Procurement
Officer and Vice President Rob Dugas visited Southeastern recently to meet with and
recruit Southeastern students for corporate internship opportunities at Chick-fil-A
national headquarters in Atlanta.
Sponsored by Southeastern’s Office of Career Services, the event was part of
the university’s ongoing Real-World Ready initiative that provides students with experiential
learning opportunities, including internships, service-learning courses, research,
and artistic and field experiences.
A 1986 graduate with a degree in communication, Dugas was recruiting for a 10-week
summer program in Atlanta that includes paid corporate internships with a housing
stipend and hands-on corporate learning experience in the privately held company.
Chick-fil-A offers internship opportunities in accounting, business, communication,
engineering, finance, information technology, and marketing and supply chain management.
“Unlike training in biology and other fields, the College of Business doesn’t
have labs to send students to so that they can learn by seeing and doing,” said Louis
Mayfield Professor of Marketing Mike Jones. “Through internships, students can see
if they even want to work in the world that they are preparing for. One can read lots
of books about riding bicycles, but unless you get on one, I don’t think you will
learn to ride. I wish all of our students had the learning experience provided by
internships.”
Dugas was recognized this year at Southeastern’s Annual Alumni Awards Evening
during Homecoming as the Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Arts, Humanities
and Social Sciences.
“Besides being a visionary manager of the highest quality, Rob has been a great
friend to Southeastern and its business students,” said Jones. “For two years he has
hosted a group of 20 supply chain management majors from Southeastern during a visit
to Atlanta, providing students a day of interacting with both he and his team. These
visits provide students a powerful learning experience in a way that textbooks can’t.
Most of the students on those visits have never been in the offices of a large corporation.”
The event included an overview of the Chick-fil-A corporation, as well as a presentation
of internship opportunities in Atlanta, local internship opportunities, an open discussion
question and answer session, and the opportunity to meet with Chick-fil-A corporate
representatives.
