In June, the Graduate School launched a Humanities Summer Internship program, supporting two humanities Ph.D. students through paid internship opportunities at 黑料不打烊 Press and the 黑料不打烊 Art Museum. An outgrowth of the awarded to the Graduate School and the Humanities Center in 2018, the internships gave the students the chance to apply their humanistic skills in work settings aligned with their disciplinary backgrounds, while exploring job sectors of interest to them.
Madeline Krumel (Ph.D. student, English) used the 黑料不打烊 鈥檚 collections to create teaching-specific finding aids that will make it easier for instructors to teach with art objects. Emily Dittman, associate director of the Art Museum, emphasized the range of topics covered by the objects that Krumel worked with, 鈥渇rom pedagogical tools to critical race theory, from literary afterlives to psychoanalysis鈥� and their potential educational value. According to Krumel, 鈥淢y hope is that these finding aids will make Humanities instructors (and beyond) feel encouraged and empowered to reinvigorate their teaching via SU Art鈥檚 extensive collections.鈥�
Alex Hanson (Ph.D. candidate, composition and cultural rhetoric) interned at , working with several of its departments鈥揂cquisitions, Marketing, and Editorial/Production鈥揳nd carrying out a wide variety of work, such as writing proposals for the editorial board, researching outside readers for manuscripts and securing permissions for reprinted text and images. 鈥淚 am so grateful for the very clear directions Peggy [Solic], Deb [Manion], and Kelly [Balenske] provided, their patient, kind, and generous mentorship. I felt like this was a very 鈥榠ntern-centered鈥� experience, 鈥� says Hanson. Deb Manion, acquisitions editor, added that the internship was 鈥渁 tremendous collaborative opportunity for the Press, the Graduate School and, most importantly, the graduate student, who can train in an academic-adjacent field that they have real interest in as part of their job market goals.鈥�
The Graduate School also partnered with the College of Arts and Sciences鈥� Engaged Humanities Network and Dean鈥檚 Professor of Community Engagement Brice Nordquist to create four additional Engaged Humanities Summer Internships. These internships are connected to ongoing Engaged Communities projects across the city and region.
Jordan Brady Loewen (Ph.D. candidate, religion) worked at the , editing and producing the “Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery” podcast series, in addition to developing the Virtual Onondaga Project, overseeing a team of programmers, artists and designers. 鈥淚t was wonderful to have focused time to do creative and public-facing scholarship,鈥� Loewen says. 鈥淭he pay was also an important motivator.鈥�
Zakery Mu帽oz (Ph.D. candidate, composition and cultural rhetoric) worked at , digitizing and producing content for the organization鈥檚 Cultural Memory Archive and an upcoming exhibition. In addition, Mu帽oz led a writing workshop for Latinx youth from the local community. Teresita Paniaguia, executive director of cultural engagement for the Hispanic Community, enthused that Mu帽oz鈥檚 work was 鈥渁bsolutely critical to the agency at this particular time, as we were preparing to reopen our Center after closure due to Covid19. His contributions had a direct and very positive impact on the life of Center, on the lives of these kids, their families, and on the relationships between La Casita and its community partners.鈥�
Jacob Gedetsis (MFA student, creative writing), worked with directors and teachers at the on the ongoing community writing project 鈥淲rite Out,鈥� leading daily writing sessions for middle-school students. Kofi Addai, associate director at North Side Learning Center, notes that Gedetsis helped the students 鈥渢o think outside the box and be creative in their writing,鈥� while Gedetsis affirmed that 鈥渢his internship challenged and excited me like nothing else during my academic career.鈥�
Aley O鈥橫ara (Ph.D., English, 2021), worked with Joann Yarrow, 鈥檚 director of community engagement and education, on the theater鈥檚 housing policy project, “” O鈥橫ara collected oral histories to fill archival gaps around housing insecurities and reform in 黑料不打烊, contributing to the larger project of using art to shift current housing policy in the 黑料不打烊 area.
