Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Introducing the Fall 2012 Undergraduate Interns


This semester eight Loyola undergraduates are interning for course credit as part of HIST 398, the History Undergraduate Internship.  Working directly with history-trained professionals in a broad range of institutions across Chicago, interns are spending a minimum of five hours a week putting the critical thinking, writing and speaking skills that they have learned in the Loyola classroom to work in the real world.  Not only does HIST 398 allow students to earn three course credit hours, but it also satisfies the college’s Engaged Learning Requirement.  Interns are blogging weekly posts about their experiences.  I encourage you to check out their blogs.  Comment on their posts. Ask them questions.  Encourage them. And most of all: think about the internship that you want to do in the spring semester for HIST 398 credit!

Alexandra Vasilou and Jake Vasilakes are digging into the archives at the Chicago Japanese American History Society.  Their blogs give a wonderful sense of the experience of working with a small institution with limited resources, the amazing discoveries that can be made, and some eloquent ruminations on what it means to do history.  Jake’s blog has some beautiful photographs of WWII internment camps from the CJAHS collection that are worth checking out.  

Area museums and libraries are benefiting from the labors of Loyola undergraduates.  At the Swedish American Museum, Winfred Lawrence is spearheading an oral history project capturing the memories and experiences of members of the museum, many of whom are first or second generation Americans. Besides gathering stories for the museum to use in its exhibitions and programs, Winfred’s project is documenting the history of the Andersonville neighborhood where the museum is located.  Over at the Newberry Library, Dylan LeBlanc is helping catalogue a collection of railroad material for the library’s “Mapping Movement in American Culture” project and is hoping to work with the maps of the Colonial Atlantic World that he studies.

Curious about Taoism?  Qihan Zhao’s blog is both a fascinating introduction to Chinese philosophy and a view into the work that he is doing with Professor Elena Valussi.  Each week’s post provides interesting information about Taoist scholarship.

Anne Burkhardt and Sebastian Villa are digging into the archives of important women activists this semester.  Anne is working in the Archives at DePaul with the papers of the Congregation of Saint Joseph.  Sister Helen Prejean, whose experience as an anti-death penalty activist was portrayed in the movie Dead Man Walking, is a prominent member of the Congregation.  Sebastian has been working with the papers of Helen Sauer Brown, Mary Agnes Curran, and other activists in Loyola’s own Women and Leadership Archives.  Sebastian is also helping coordinate the WLA’s social media.  His handiwork can be seen on the WLA Facebook page.

Fall might be in the air, but it hasn’t kept CharlesHeinrich from digging (literally!) into Loyola’s Medieval Garden.  Follow Charlie’s humorous posts to learn how he battles back rogue fennel to reclaim the garden and digs into (five hundred years) old school urban environmental sustainability!

Intrigued? Want to undertake your own internship?  Now is the perfect time to start thinking about an internship for the spring semester.  Visit the undergraduate internship pages or email me (kroberts2@luc.edu) for more information.

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