Internships – The Humanities PhD Project

Where do humanists work?: Organizational Profiles

Graduates of humanities PhD programs finish their degrees with wide-ranging abilities in research, communication, instruction, and project management. For students who have spent many years at research-intensive institutions, however, it is can be difficult to imagine contexts outside of the professoriate where they might apply their training. As an assignment for English 630: Professional Humanities Careers, doctoral students from across the University of Michigan’s humanities departments brainstormed the following list of organizations as places to pursue humanities careers. By no means exhaustive, the organizations below can nevertheless inspire job-seekers to […]

Humanities, Communications, and Philanthropy: What I Learned Sharing the Barbour Scholars Story

By Elizabeth Harlow, Doctoral Candidate, English Language & Literature As the University of Michigan commemorated its bicentennial in 2017, one of its most storied programs also marked the major milestone of its 100th anniversary. I spent last summer learning and telling the history of the Barbour Scholarship as a Mellon Public Humanities Fellow on the Rackham Graduate School’s Development and Alumni Relations team. What is the Barbour Scholarship, you ask? One of the university’s oldest, most prestigious, and most uniquely impactful awards, the Barbour Scholarship has supported female students from […]

Exploring Public Humanities at the University of Michigan Museum of Art

By Michael Pascual, Doctoral Student, American Culture I have been in school for as long as I can remember. Except for one small break during my undergrad, I have been enrolled in every semester and quarter and class since I entered into preschool in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. I’m qualified to call myself a lifelong learner and, at this point in my journey, a researcher. My research begins with my interest in the representation of Filipinos in America. I look at how the live display of Filipinos in the […]

From Angst to Advocacy: My Summer with the Michigan Humanities Council

By Emelia Abbe, Doctoral Student, English Language and Literature I’ve never been sold on the idea of a strictly academic career path. As a student in the humanities, I’ve constantly wrestled with how to make sense of the greater effects of my discipline on audiences outside of the university. The circular concept of researching to write articles that other academics then use to write more articles for still more academics is a frustrating one to me — especially when I know that engaging more people outside of universities in humanities […]

“More than a sound, it’s a feel”

By Nicole Navarro, Doctoral Student, Department of History When I was accepted as a Mellon Fellow at the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, I was excited for an opportunity to work in a museum setting. I have a background in museums as I worked for two and a half years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture prior to beginning my history PhD journey. I was motivated to apply for the Mellon Fellowship, and specifically to the Wright, to get back to museum work and […]

(Re)learning to Write

By Cecilia Morales, Doctoral Candidate in English Given that one of my goals in applying for a Mellon Fellowship was to discover the Ann Arbor community beyond the walls of UofM, my position as the Communications Intern at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) was the perfect fit. AAACF maintains an extensive network of connections to donors and nonprofits in Washtenaw County, holding endowments that benefit a wide range of individuals and institutions. In short, they know a lot of people, and they have a deep influence on the community. […]

Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows Competition for Recent PhDs

This year’s Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows program will place up to 25 recent PhDs from the humanities and humanistic social sciences in two-year term staff positions at partnering organizations in government and the nonprofit sector. Now in its eighth year the program aims to expand the role of doctoral education in the United States by demonstrating that capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond the academy. APPLICATIONS DUE: MARCH 14 2018

Digitizing Digs: My Summer at the MATRIX Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences

By Allison Kemmerle, Doctoral Candidate in Greek & Roman History This past summer, I completed a Mellon Public Humanities Fellowship at the MATRIX Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University. The MATRIX Center partners with community organizations like libraries and museums to digitize collections of cultural resources and make them accessible resources for education and outreach. When I applied for the fellowship at MATRIX, I was eager to learn about managing digital archives. As part of my training as an ancient historian working with the University of […]

Rackham Public Engagement Fellowships

Rackham Public Engagement Fellowships are paid opportunities for graduate students to intern at cultural, nonprofit, and educational organizations on campus, in Ann Arbor, and in nearby communities. Fellowships are part time (15 – 20 hours per week) for 8 to 15 weeks during the summer and include a stipend of $3,360 to $5,000 based on time commitment. APPLICATIONS DUE: FEBRUARY 26 2018

Epiphany at the Altar

By Matthew Woodbury Dr. Lehti Keelmann received her PhD in the History of Art in 2016. She is the Assistant Curator of Western Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Walking past formal 18th-century portraits, intricate Tiffany lamps, and an exhibit of stunning fashion photographs, it’s easy to see why Dr. Lehti Keelmann finds the University of Michigan Museum of Art a great place to work. As the Museum’s Assistant Curator of Western Art, Dr. Keelmann works with the American and European holdings of art ranging from medieval enamels […]