Historical Studies Internship Opportunities
An internship, as distinguished from an independent study, is defined as program-related employment, paid or non-paid, for credit – usually but not necessarily external to the Stockton community.
Today, the general consensus is that internships have become a prerequisite for paid jobs in the labor market. They can provide essential real-world experience especially for those trying to break into a new field. They supply students with valuable professional skills and training and allow them to try out a field or a range of work environments for fit and compatibility before jumping full-time into the working world. They offer students opportunities to network, build relationships, and find mentors in their chosen field. At times, internships can transition into paid, permanent positions. But short of that, they can enhance the ability of students to become competitive job applicants and help them to become successful in the jobs they eventually acquire.
Historical Studies Internship Courses
Historical Studies students may enroll in one of several different internship courses
depending on the type of internships they wish to do. Consult your preceptor for guidance.
Options include the following:
HIST/LITT/COMM 3918 Editing Internship (4 credits)
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors only; Permission of Instructor Required.
Students in this course will work with Stockton's South Jersey Center for History
and Culture to promote Southern New Jersey's heritage by identifying and editing for
republication key texts that explore the region's past. They will be introduced to
line and copy editing, print layout and design and assist in editing a local history
journal and learn to use the publication InDesign. May be repeated once for credit.
HIST/LITT 3920 Public History Internship(4 credits)
Prerequisite: Not open to Freshmen; Permission of Instructor Required.
Students may earn four credits for their work at a designated museum in the area,
learning Past Perfect archival software and helping the museum identify and archive
its holdings.
HIST/LITT 3922, 3923 Digital Humanities Internship I & II (4-8 credits)
Prerequisite:Not open to Freshmen. Permission of Instructor Required.
This course is a digital studies internship. DH@Stockton is the Center for the Digital
Humanities at Stockton University. Students will be learning technical skills and
applying them to work on a digital project, either with a faculty member or with an
external organization. Digital Humanities Internship II is the second portion of the
digital humanities internship that forms the practicum component.
Stockton’s Washington Internship Program (12 credits)
The Washington Internship program provides interested students with internships, housing,
and professional development opportunities in Washington, DC. Historically oriented
placements might be at the various Smithsonian Institutions, with the Library of Congress, or National Archives. Contact Dr. Michael Rodriguez (Stockton’s Washington Internship Program Liaison) for details.
Additional Internship Opportunities
Students are responsible for finding their own internships. Several individuals and resources can help them to find ones that match their interests.
In order to assure that students will get the most out of an internship, they should carefully scrutinize all potential positions to determine their quality. What will students actually do as an intern? With whom will they work? How do their learning goals and expectations fit into those of the institution potentially hiring them as an intern? What are some of the projects past interns have accomplished? What have former interns said about this position? Will this experience help students down the road? Also, if a potential internship is not local, be sure to research housing opportunities and to watch for hidden additional costs.
- Career Education & Development (Campus Center, Suite 104) will help students to find internships that match their interests. Students can either drop into the office (M, T, or W, from 10AM-12PM) or schedule an appointment (contact: Dayna DeFiore, Assistant Director in Career Education & Development, 609-652-4798). Career Education & Development also provides a database for internships, job opportunities, and alumni mentors. In addition, students can join a Career Community, which will help students interested in particular fields to develop professionally in that area.
- Information about internships at Stockton, in South Jersey, Philadelphia, NY, DC, nationally, and internationally can be found through Stockton’s M.A. in American Studies here.
- The Honors College has additional information about internships available here.
Eligibility and Requirements
To be eligible for internships, students must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and have successfully completed at least 64 college credits (at least 16 at Stockton). Internships can be taken pass/fail or for a letter grade.
With the exception of students who apply for the Washington Internship Program, students may take no more than 8 credits in HIST internships. Simultaneous or consecutive internships will require special permission/approval.
Students wishing to do an internship need to find a HIST faculty member willing to sponsor them and an internship they wish to do. Before the internship is approved for credit (1 to 4 credits), students must submit a proposal to their HIST faculty sponsor. The proposal, signed by the prospective employer, should specify the scope, expectations, and methodologies involved in the internship. Because it can take time to secure an internship and to ensure that any off-campus sponsoring institution, students wishing to intern should consult their preceptor one or two semesters before they want to intern.
Students must facilitate completion of a Stockton University Internship form with the sponsoring HIST faculty. Students must bring the completed Internship form to the Arts and Humanities School Office (K150) for approval and processing. Information regarding administration of Internships can be accessed at Internship/Experiential Learning in the School of Arts and Humanities.
It is expected that students undertaking a 4-credit internship will accumulate 120 hours over the course of a semester (8hrs./week x 15 weeks). Total hours may include time for independent research and writing, determined in consultation with the HIST faculty sponsor.
Interns are also required to fulfill assignments outside of their internship developed by their on-site supervisor and/or faculty sponsor. Possible assignments include keeping a journal, writing reaction papers to related events, conducting an informational interview with someone in the field, a self-assessment, an assessment of the experience, and/or an assessment of the institution’s needs and a project to move the institution toward an outlined goal.
Near the conclusion of the internship, the faculty sponsor will mail evaluation forms to employers requesting a detailed evaluation of the student’s performance.
The HIST faculty sponsor will determine the interning students’ grade based on assessment of the on-site supervisor’s evaluation as well as the portfolio of work the student submits.
