Summer 2021 – Virtual Edition
In its second year, this initiative persevered in the time of COVID-19 as all internships were designed for a virtual format. For summer 2021, we are proudly introducing and awarding five nationwide remote opportunities as part of the Public Humanities Internship Program.
Content Assistant –TeachRock, Rock and Roll Forever Foundation
The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation is a 501(c)(3) created by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Steven Van Zandt. The Foundation’s mission is to empower teachers and engage students by using popular music to create interdisciplinary, culturally responsive education materials for all 21st century classrooms. The curriculum – called TeachRock – uses the lens of popular music to help students learn all subjects, with innovative lesson plans developed by experienced educators and top experts in the field. From social studies and language arts to geography, media studies, science, general music, and more: TeachRock has engaging and meaningful material for every classroom – all available at no cost.
This year, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation is undergoing a major initiative to increase the diversity of musical artists and other public figures represented in TeachRock curriculum. The Content Assistant would work with the content team toward developing educational materials (including lessons, artist biographies, videos, and slide presentations) that feature underrepresented communities in the United States. The Content Assistant is encouraged to propose their own projects for development during the internship period, and we especially welcome candidates with an interest in translating their own research and scholarship to Elementary or High School teachers, so long as such research is aligned with the outline goals above. For more information, click here.
Digital Outreach Assistant– The Archaeological Conservancy
The Archaeological Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that identifies, acquires, and preserves the most significant archaeological sites in the United States. Since its beginning in 1980, the Conservancy has now preserved over 550 sites across the nation, ranging in age from the earliest habitation sites in North America to a 19th-century frontier army post. We are building a national system of archaeological preserves to ensure the survival of our irreplaceable cultural heritage.
This internship consists of assisting the Archaeological Conservancy’s Digital Outreach Coordinator in creating social media, video, and web content for The Conservancy’s digital platforms to include Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter. Key responsibilities include organizing and creating digital media that can be incorporated into a format that informs and educates the public about The Archaeological Conservancy’s mission. This includes assisting in the creation of our next Virtual Tour Video on the prehistoric burial site of Windover in Florida through research, organizing archive footage and photos, video and photo editing. For more information, click here.
Outreach Assistant– University Press of Florida
As the scholarly publishing arm of the State University System of Florida (SUS), the University Press of Florida (UPF) has been engaging students, educators, and discerning readers since its founding in 1945. In our 75-year history, UPF has published more than 3,000 volumes and currently release nearly 80 new titles each year. A nonprofit publisher of scholarly and general-interest books and journals, and one of the largest university presses in the South UPF has earned a prominent reputation for publishing distinguished works by important global and local voices. Through its award-winning regional publishing program, UPF offers the citizens of Florida engaging, authoritative works on the region’s history, culture, art, music, food, literature, geography, politics, environment, and plant and animal life.
The intern will work to develop a public outreach campaign for a few new and forthcoming titles from our African American history, Latin American and Caribbean studies, cultural heritage, and/or public history lists, with particular emphasis on reaching diverse communities. Also, the intern will research and help develop publicity, social media, event planning, and other strategies to increase awareness of these works, including creating media lists, writing press releases, coordinating author Q&As and other blog content, and coordinating schedules of live virtual conversations. Moreover, the intern will also research scholars, centers, organizations, and other educational venues that might engage with and benefit from increased awareness of these books, while also contributing to the development of new books in these areas. For more information, click here.
Media Content Producer – Future of Life Institute
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a non-profit focused on positive uses of technology. Our premise is that technology is giving life the potential to flourish like never before, or to self-destruct. Your job will be to help tip the balance toward the former. FLI’s work focuses on the risks of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nuclear weapons.
This internship consists of helping FLI research and create educational content (think podcast or YouTube video) about lethal autonomous weapons by leveraging existing FLI podcasts, articles, and video content, as well as conducting interviews with thinkers in the field, and engaging with other organizations in this space. Lethal autonomous weapons are weapons that select and engage targets without human intervention. They represent an early use case of AI technology that may lead to catastrophic outcomes and which will also set important precedents for the future of AI. For more information, click here.
Oceana Field Campaign Assistant – Oceana
Oceana is an international nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans. Oceana’s campaigns are directed at achieving measurable policy changes to prevent the irreversible collapse of ocean life. Results are achieved through science, law, advocacy, organizing public support, and communications.
This position reports directly to the Florida Gulf Coast Campaign Organizer and the Georgia Field Representative a to execute a campaign plan and carry out tasks necessary to meet campaign objectives, track timelines and report on progress. During this internship, the intern will maintain a working knowledge of the political climate around plastic pollution, offshore drilling and staying on top of new developments. The intern will work in coordination with the supervisor to identify, develop, plan, organize and execute an event, tactic, project or research item that fits the intern’s field of study and contributes to the success of an Oceana campaign; and develop content and help maintain field team/regional social media accounts. For more information, click here.
Meet the 2021 Interns!
Nicole Green (Department of English): Content Assistant – TeachRock, Rock and Roll Forever Foundation
Nicole is an English Ph.D. student at the University of Florida and has a background in elementary education. Her research interests are children’s literature, the history of education, and teaching. Her current research project is centered around examining punk music, DIY subcultures, punk teachers, and zines produced by children. With this, Nicole aims to find ways to develop a K-12 curriculum that specifically centers students’ lived experiences. She is excited to work with TeachRock and create curriculum that affirms the identities of all students through music.
Emilee E. McGann (Department of Anthropology): Digital Outreach Assistant– The Archaeological Conservancy
Emilee is a first-year interdisciplinary Master’s student in the Anthropology department at the University of Florida. She is primarily interested in human/environment interactions, especially concerning the zooarchaeology of Paleoindigenous populations during the Pleistocene in Florida. As an American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) diver, she is interested in applying zooarchaeological and paleontological methods to underwater contexts. Through this internship, she hopes to learn technical skills concerning public outreach via multimedia. She is passionate about ensuring cultural heritage is a shared resource. Therefore, she plans to use these skills to communicate her future research. She hopes to spark an appreciation for cultural heritage within others.
Brandon Murakami (Department of English): Outreach Assistant– University Press of Florida
Brandon Murakami is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of English. His research lies at the intersection of media studies, children’s literature/culture, and visual rhetoric. Currently, he is investigating the transformations of the shōnen genre in mediums of anime and manga since the 1980s. He is excited to be a part of the University Press of Florida’s team this summer while also learning more about the publishing industry as well as in the opportunity to promote the Press’ bountiful range of books to Florida’s many diverse communities.
Zack Shaw (Department of English): Media Content Producer – Future of Life Institute
Zack is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the University of Florida. His dissertation considers the decision that content creators make when selecting which media best helps them communicate their ideas, and how switching from one media to another alters these ideas. He argues that while any media can convey almost any rhetoric, a media’s ontology uniquely equips it to convey specific meanings and evoke specific rhetorical situations. Thus, what comprises each media and how it relates to other media leads to common rhetorical situations depicted. During this internship, he is excited to refine his media production skills and develop industry experiences that could help him launch a career with media.
Audrey Vilaihong (Department of Political Science): Oceana Field Campaign Assistant – Oceana
Audrey is a Master’s student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida. Her research interests are environmental politics, political communications, public policy, gender, political behavior, and political psychology. She is interested in the Oceana site internship because of the interdisciplinary aspects of the internship. It combines her knowledge from environmental politics and data analysis classes, while introducing her to the aspects of working for a non-profit centered around policy initiatives. She is particularly excited about the environmental politics side of the internship, as she knows the environment, politics, and the economy are inextricably intertwined, especially for the state of Florida.
Summer 2020 – Virtual Edition
This initiative persevered in the time of COVID-19 as all internships were transitioned to a virtual format. In summer 2020, we proudly introduced and awarded four opportunities as part of the new Public Humanities Internship Program.
Historical Research Assistant: The Hippodrome Theater
The Hippodrome was founded in 1972 by six artists with the goal of presenting the best in challenging, contemporary theatre. The Hippodrome Theatre is committed to artistic excellence in North Florida. Their mission is to collaborate with artists, create productions, education programs, events, and cinematic programming that reflect and elevate the diverse cultures and perspectives of the region, and to create and maintain ongoing engagement with our community.
The purpose of this internship was to conduct research and oral histories related to the founding of the Hippodrome Theatre. Some of the responsibilities included interviewing founding members of the theatre as well as other prominent people from the Hippodrome’s history, and researching the history of the theatre in digital archives. These oral histories serve as the basis for a new podcast with the Hippodrome, “The Hipp Six.” While live performances are not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this podcast will connect the Hippodrome with new and existing audiences in an accessible way. For more information, click here.
Social Media Outreach Assistant: Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
The Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute (FSI) is a science and education based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Their mission is to document the health of Florida’s springs and provide education about the threats that face them in hopes to ensure that future generations of wildlife and humans can enjoy Florida’s springs. FSI is located in a historic building in downtown High Springs, Florida. They concurrently operate the North Florida Springs Environmental Center, which is open to the public.
The goal of this internship was to assist FSI in the creation of online outreach campaigns for FSI’s social media. The internship responsibilities included assisting with content creation of FSI’s website, such as blog writing. For more information, click here.
Exhibition Research Assistant: Historic Thomas Center
The City of Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department and the Cultural Affairs Department’s mission is to be the keeper and host of the places where nature, recreation and culture meet. In support of this mission, the Cultural Affairs Division provides its community with diverse gallery exhibitions and public art installations. Programming is guided by a set of objectives which include using arts and culture to bridge and connect communities and residents.
The Galleries at the Historic Thomas Center prepare and present challenging and informative art exhibitions. The City has recently acquired a collection of the work of African American self-taught artist, Alyne Harris (b. 1942). The teachings of Christianity and her connections to church and community life are the two great and interconnected influences in this body of work. The City of Gainesville needed an intern to research and prepare interpretive content about the historical significance of the Christian tradition and the history of 20th century African American churches in the Gainesville community in support of an upcoming art exhibition. For more information, click here.
Volunteer Program Development: Howard W. Bishop Middle School’s Community Partnership School
The Community Partnership School (CPS) model is a collective impact model that focuses on improving outcomes for students, families, and communities through collaborative partnerships in Gainesville, Florida at Howard Bishop Middle School (HBMS). The CPS improves the lives of students, parents, teachers, faculty, staff and community members by engaging four key partners: the Children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS), the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC), the Alachua County Health Department (ACHD), the University of Florida (UF), and Santa Fe College (SF).
The goal of this internship was to improve the ability of the school to understand what volunteers offer in terms of competence experience and training, and to more effectively link these to specific needs throughout the school and in the classroom to enhance the overall learning environment for the students. For more information, click here.
Meet the 2020 Interns!
The summer 2020 internships were originally designed to be on-site and in-person. With the challenges of the pandemic, changes were made to adapt each internship to remote work. All interns successfully adjusted to the new virtual format to carry out their work responsibilities.
Lauren Burrell Cox (Department of English), Historical Researcher at The Hippodrome.
Lauren Burrell Cox is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the University of Florida specializing in feminist film and media studies. Her dissertation focuses on archival films and how they reactivate and engage with the archive of film history. Lauren is also a filmmaker and has shown films at the Key West Film Festival and in the Gainesville community. She teaches film and literature in the English Department and serves as the President of the UF Graduate Film Studies Group.
“This internship definitely gave me more insight into how a theatre operates as well as how community arts organizations function, which I think will be valuable knowledge going forward. I think that it has also given me a potential career pathway related to audio storytelling, and I’m very excited to explore this career avenue.”
Danielle Jordan (Department of English), Outreach Assistant at Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
Danielle Jordan is a second year Ph.D. student in the UF Department of English. She holds a B.A. in sociology and anthropology. Her current research interests include the environmental humanities, speculative fiction, film, and critical theory. In addition, she is committed to the public humanities, and prior to arriving at UF she spent time working on climate change and clean energy in the non-profit sector.
As Outreach Assistant, she assisted with outreach efforts for FSI’ social media accounts and website. She engaged in online communication; public outreach, including social media; blog post writing; and developing social media posts for outreach campaigns for various springs-related topics.
“I see that there is work to be done, even at science based/research non-profits for humanists that is fulfilling and important. Working on language, writing, messaging, public facing materials for an organization like this is something I would be interested in in the future.”
Christopher Lomelin (Department of Religion), Research Assistant in Religion at Historic Thomas Center
Christopher Lomelin earned a B.A. in Spanish and International Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013 and M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida in 2016. His current interests include religion and politics, race and religion, social movements, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, transnationalism, and environmental and animal ethics. His dissertation research focuses on the sanctuary church movement throughout the United States and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
“This project clearly demonstrated that researching and writing are not impractical, but rather valuable skill sets that can contribute to myriad projects. Additionally, the professional development and the CV workshops were incredibly useful for thinking about a non-academic career.”
Lori Lye (Department of Spanish and Portuguese), Program Development at Howard W. Bishop Middle School
Lori Lye is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Linguistics, investigating mobile apps for language learning. She started at UF in 2009, completing her Bachelor’s in Math, Chinese, and Spanish followed by a Master’s in Education. She is active in the community through the Migrant Education Program, working with English language learners.
As Program Development Intern, she helped create organizational and management tools for their volunteer program. Also, she assessed the needs of current volunteer program and existing protocols and evaluated curriculum for volunteer training and support. Her responsibilities included creating a database of volunteers and a system for matching volunteer competence and experience to school and classroom needs; and designing surveys for administration, faculty, and volunteer feedback.
“During the internship I was able to become involved with community engagement, to discover various opportunities within Gainesville…Through the Informational Interview workshop I was able to interview contacts in industry, working in career pathways outside of the traditionally assumed academia that humanities students are assumed to pursue.”