Humanities@Work

A public humanities summer internship program for humanities graduate students

About Humanities@Work

This spring, the Center for the Humanities is proud to launch a three-year internship pilot program, generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program is designed to support humanities PhD students pursuing work and internships in mission-driven organizations locally. Students will apply to the program, indicating their interest in one or two of five paid internship opportunities sponsored by the Center for the Humanities. See below for more details about the sponsoring organizations and the work involved.

During the spring, all students in Humanities@Work will receive coaching and mentorship from center staff in conjunction with WashU’s Center for Career Engagement's PhD and Postdoc Career Community as they prepare for April interviews with the organizations themselves. Though not every student in the program will ultimately land one of the five internships, all students will receive crucial guidance on how to position themselves for work beyond the professoriate and how to leverage existing career preparedness resources on campus that are particularly useful to humanists. Each student hired for one of the five internship positions will be paid $3000 for their work with the respective organization at an expected weekly commitment of 20 hours weekly for 8 weeks of summer 2025. All students hired for these internships will be expected to work in person in St. Louis.

Phd students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences are all eligible to apply, including F-1 visa students. Please contact our staff with any questions about eligiblity.

Required Application Materials

1. A resume that articulates your skills and experience for a non-scholarly position. (Note: this is different from a scholarly CV. It is perfectly acceptable to submit a resume in “draft mode” — we’ll work with you on the materials over the spring.)

2. A cover letter for each position for which you are interested in applying (limit 2).

3. A completed application form. Click here for the downloadable form.

Apply here

Submit all requested materials (see above) by March 10.

Upload your application materials here

Programming schedule

1. Attend the Crafting Your Humanities Resume session on February 27. Click here for workshop details and a link to RSVP.

2. Attend this year's RDE Workshop, "Where to Start? A Public Humanities Primer for Graduate Students," recommended but not required. Click here for workshop details and a link to RSVP.

3. Attend a special session on networking hosted by the Center for Career Engagement, March 11. Click here for details and a link to RSVP. (Note: it is also possible to attend other CCE sessions and events in lieu of the March 11 event; email Meredith Kelling for details.)

4. Schedule a one-on-one coaching session at the Center for Career Engagement to conduct a mock interview, mid to late March. Click here to schedule.

5. Follow-up regularly with Meredith Kelling and/or Laura Perry to tailor all insights to the particulars of each internship application.

6. Internship interview with selected organizations in April (by invitation only).

7. Hiring decisions by early May.


 

 

Program administrators

At the Center for the Humanities, we support students as they forge connections between their scholarship and the broader applications of their work and expertise. We can help you navigate resources for professional development and career planning, both at WashU and in the broader humanities community.