Boston College Summer Internship for PhD Students
Boston College is piloting a summer internship program for PhD students in the humanities and qualitative social sciences sponsored by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, the Office of the Provost, and the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. Given the current shortage of full-time academic teaching positions, these internships are designed to let PhD students explore possible non-professorial careers, learn more about how to make a transition to an “Alt-Ac” career path, and provide work experience that will facilitate such a transition.
The internships will take place in June and July, 2021. Students who participate will be expected to work 35-40 hours per week on the internship and in addition to participate in a weekly group meeting to reflect on the experience and to learn about practical steps for pursuing non-teaching careers. (Whether the internships and meetings will be remote or in person will be determined later in the spring.) Participants will have to complete two informational interviews with people in a relevant field and write a short report at the end of the internship. Interns will be paid a stipend of $4,000.
Application Process & Deadline
Applications can be submitted online at: PhD Summer Internship Application Form
Applications are due on: March 4, 2022
All applicants must have the approval of a dissertation director, main advisor, or graduate program director.
PhD students at any stage of their degree program can apply for up to two internships and should indicate which is their first choice. Providing a second choice is optional. We are offering nine possibilities (five at BC, four at nonprofits outside BC) although we may not be able to fund all nine.
Questions: Contact Mary Crane (mary.crane.1@bc.edu)
McMullen Museum, Boston College
https://www.bc.edu/artmuseum
Exhibition Research and Planning
This position is designed for a graduate student to have hands on experience in the planning and coordination of an exhibition at an academic museum. Working with McMullen Museum of Art’s Assistant Director John McCoy, the student will help with the preparations for the 2022 exhibition, Raw, Weirdo, and Beyond: American Alternative Comics, 1990-2000. Some of the responsibilities will include:
- Research assistance on an introductory exhibition essay;
- Assisting with exhibition writing;
- Assisting with exhibition catalogue design and layout;
- Assisting with exhibition catalogue editing tasks, including communications with essay writers;
- Connecting with and communicating with loaning artists, institutions, and collectors;
- Potentially working with other McMullen staff to learn the processing of loans, shipping of art, and handling of objects.
This is an ideal opportunity for a candidate with strong research and writing abilities who is interested in museum studies. An interest in comics is also a plus.
If the student who completes this internship is interested in developing knowledge of museums and curatorship, the ILA will provide funding to audit Nancy Netzer’s fall, 2021 course, ARTH437001: The Art Museum: History, Philosophy, and Practice.
BC Libraries
https://library.bc.edu
Digital Humanities
Host Department: Digital Scholarship Team, BC Libraries
The Digital Humanities (DH) internship will support a student wishing to incorporate DH approaches and skills into their research and actively contribute to their scholarly communities. The intern will participate in the development of an online platform associated with the Certificate in Digital Humanities for hosting projects promoting the use of Digital Scholarship (DS) in academic classrooms. Within that larger framework, students will have the opportunity to explore possible DS expressions of their own research, e.g. data visualizations, network graphs, maps, etc., as well as potentially work with digitized archival materials in the Burns Library, such as the Joseph J. Williams, SJ ethnological collection.
To facilitate this work, the student will meet online weekly for project check-ins and support, as well as to discuss career options. Library staff will provide training, and the student will have the opportunity to shadow subject specialists and learn more about academic library work. Students will leave the internship with a greater understanding of working within a project team, developing and managing projects, and applyingspecific technical skills. Applicants do not need to be on-site for this internship. Preference will be given to students who are part of the certificate program.
BC Libraries
https://library.bc.edu
Academic Integrity
Host Department: Educational Initiatives and Research Services, BC Libraries
This internship will allow a student to gain skills and experience in online learning methods and tools by focusing on the redesign of the online tutorial, required of all students entering Boston College, that covers the principles of academic integrity. BC has in place a straightforward policy regarding breaches of academic integrity by any student and the procedures to be followed in the event of any violation of the policy. This tutorial broadens the scope of the integrity issue, viewing it as a proper object of intellectual inquiry and making it a central part of the student culture at BC. Created ten years ago, the tutorial was a collaborative effort among faculty, the University Libraries, Instructional Design and e-teaching Services (now the Center for Digital and Innovative Learning and the Center for Teaching Excellence) and the Connors Family Learning Center.
This internship will require utilizing the learning management system (Canvas) to review, revise, and update the online tutorial, both pedagogically and technically. The intern will collaborate with various on-campus departments and faculty, research and write content, create learning modules, and pilot the tutorial. The Libraries’ Research and Learning Services team will provide direction and support for the intern in this role. The intern is not required to work on-site.
BC Libraries
https://library.bc.edu
Rare Books and Manuscripts Curatorship
Host Department: John J. Burns Library, BC Libraries
Have you ever wondered how Burns Library and other rare book and manuscript libraries acquire their collections? Working with Burns Librarian Christian Dupont, this intern will learn about the strategies and techniques library curators employ to build collections of rare and unique materials through purchases and donations. The intern will assist with analyzing current holdings to define targeted areas for development, evaluating bookseller offerings and auction listings, formulating bidding and negotiating strategies, and responding to donation offers. Depending on the student’s interests and the opportunities that emerge, the internship may focus on Burns Library’s pre-1850 Jesuit, post-1800 Irish, Boston history, or other collecting areas. In addition, there may be opportunities to contribute to the writing of collection development policies, blog posts, articles, and other types of publications about Burns Library collections.
Given the focus on physical collections, this internship will require onsite work in Burns Library scheduled during normal business hours of 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday, though some tasks may be performed remotely outside these hours. The start and end dates are also negotiable, with the understanding that the intern will be expected to fulfill the requirements between the end of the spring semester and beginning of the fall term, and to participate fully in the ILA’s internship cohort programming in June and July.
Schiller Institute, Boston College
https://www.bc.edu/schiller
Data Collection and Analysis, Grant Writing, and Operations
The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society is seeking a PhD-level summer intern to contribute to data collection and analysis, grant writing, and operations.
Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the intern will collect and analyze data about interdisciplinary institutes and centers across the country with the goal of identifying best practices and providing targeted feedback about questions posed by the Institute’s leadership. The intern will be contributing to the strategic direction of the Institute as it takes shape.
The intern will also assist with helping set up a national organization of interdisciplinary institutes and centers. We envision that this will be an independent project for the intern to work on, with mentorship from members of the Institute team.
The Institute is in a growth stage, operating similar to a startup company. As a result, there will also be many opportunities for the intern to contribute to the day-to-day operations and strategic planning of the Institute. In this role, the intern will operate similar to an in-house consultant, providing input on a range of strategic, planning and organizational activities. For example, the intern may be asked to lead the assessment of a virtual conference on interdisciplinary institutes being held in the late spring.
The Institute is also engaged in various research projects and the intern will have the opportunity to contribute to these under the mentorship of the Institute’s Senior Research Fellow and the Executive Director.
Cotting School for Disabled Children (Lexington, MA)
https://www.cotting.org/
Fundraising and Marketing Outreach
The intern in this position will assist in outreach initiatives to support and advance Cotting School’s goals and mission, which is to enable students with special needs to achieve their highest learning potential and level of independence. Reporting to the Director of the Annual Fund and Marketing Director at Cotting School, the intern will work with the marketing and development teams to support key outreach initiatives, like relationship building efforts with parents, school districts, professionals, donors, and other stakeholders. Projects may include researching and writing feature pieces for publications and marketing campaign planning. These pieces may cover student profiles, academic subject-area feature stories, new staff leadership profiles, Cotting news stories, etc.
Cotting School for Disabled Children (Lexington, MA)
https://www.cotting.org/
Teacher Evaluation and Human Resources
The intern in this position will research and develop a new teacher evaluation tool for all of our teaching staff, both new and experienced. The student will collaborate with our academic leadership to discuss areas of need around teacher evaluation, research options and tools available, and implement a new program by the end of the internship. This may include creating rubrics and/or other creative evaluation tools. In addition, this individual may provide input on an ADP (human resources software) customization project. This project will have the individual looking more closely at modules offered by ADP for employee self-service, reporting, and evaluation, and helping HR staff with selecting and implementing these modules.
Catholic Charities of Boston
https://www.ccab.org/
Grant Writing
Catholic Charities central administrative office located in South Boston seeks an intern to provide grant writing support focused on program development and agency fundraising. The grant writer will develop and assist in the creation and processing of grant proposals to private and corporate foundations, as well as federal, state, and local government entities on behalf of the agency’s service sites and programs. This position works closely with colleagues in finance, advancement, and administration, as well as program staff throughout the agency. Specific responsibilities include:
- Conduct prospect research to identify prospective funders for Catholic Charities and its programs and services;
- Compile research data on need and impact of programs;
- Participate in grant writing plan;
- Review organization materials and research and review other background information as necessary to create grant proposals;
- Write and edit proposals to prospective foundations and government agencies;
- Complete interim and annual reports for funding awards, as needed;
- Attend meetings in person, by telephone, or on Zoom, as necessary to accomplish the required work.
Proficient written and verbal communication skills are essential. Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, PowerPoint, and Raisers Edge software is preferred.
Mass Humanities
https://masshumanities.org/
https://www.massmoments.org/
Public History: Assessing Online Humanities Programs and Platforms for Mass Moments Daily History Almanac Website
Mass Humanities, a non-profit based in Northampton, conducts and supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1974, the organization has provided millions of dollars in support of thousands of humanities projects across the Commonwealth. Established as the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Mass Humanities is an independent programming and grant-making organization that receives support from the NEH and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as well as private sources.
Project Overview
Humanities organizations across the state have responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by producing a wide variety of online programs, developing lectures and panel discussions on Zoom, launching podcasts, and hosting conferences and workshops. Digital platforms offer these organizations opportunities to retain their audiences and attract new visitors while the pandemic persists, and the relatively low costs of these programs may make online programming a staple for many institutions even after social distancing ends.
As the major supporter of humanities programming in Massachusetts, Mass Humanities seeks to integrate content generated from the programs hosted by its grantees with the platform for public history provided by MassMoments.org, the organization’s daily history almanac website. Mass Humanities intends to spend 2021 creating a framework for the future of the site, which was last updated in 2015. With a new organizational goal of integrating the voices of residents in representations of local, state, and national narratives through its grants and programs, Mass Humanities sees grantee-generated content as one pathway to making an impact online; MassMoments.org could also offer more visibility for the organizations served by Mass Humanities. Equally important, Mass Humanities intends to assess the site’s content management system and archives to address issues of rights and sourcing.
This position will work with Mass Humanities staff and select grantees to produce a report on the online public humanities landscape in 2021 that addresses these goals. The position will also be responsible for directing an assessment of MassMoments.org to help Mass Humanities establish a framework for the site’s future.
Possible student contributions include:
- Interviewing grantees about online program development, the content produced by online events, and measurable outcomes;
- Assessment of functionality of and content on MassMoments.org;
- Attending virtual programs and providing summaries of audience outreach, content, platforms, and audience sizes;
- Supporting Mass Humanities staff in preparation, logistics, and content production for MH online programs;
- Creating a framework for relaunch of MassMoments.org.
The successful candidate will have one or more of these credentials:
- Current PhD candidate in history, public history, digital humanities, or other humanities discipline. Focus in Massachusetts history is preferred.
- Experience with development/management of websites
- Experience developing digital media
- Understanding of best practices for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access
- Public media experience
- Past work with humanities institutions (e.g., museums, libraries, cultural centers)
- Assessment experience
- Research on information technology, intellectual property, permissions/rights for historical materials