Internships

Students may receive academic credit for internships via ARTH 386. This course may count as one of the seven 300/400-level ARTH course required for completion of the ARTH major. Prerequisites: permission of department and 56 semester hours completed.

The best place to start looking for basic information on internships is at the Web site of the Career Center. Students should also consult with Professor Jason Kuo, Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Visit the Career Center in person, at 3100 Hornbake Library, South Wing, to take advantage of Walk-in Assistance to help you get started. A good person to consult after you have done some basic research is Emily Morris, Program Director and liaison to the College of Arts and Humanities, 301-314-7241. She can assist you with further identifying internship leads, critiquing your cover letters and resume, and thinking about how your internship fits into your larger career plans.

1. Decide what kinds of internships interest you. These may include curatorial work in a gallery, digging atan archaeological excavation, enrolling in a formal internship at a major museum, and many other options. Some internships are paid. Many more are done on a strictly volunteer basis.

2. Explore possible options. Start early so that you have several choices when it comes to getting internship offers. ARTH does not maintain a full list of possible internships, though your professors may have heard about some of interest in their various fields. The Career Center has many directories listing possibilities, including Peterson's Internships and the National Directory of Internships, in the "Gaining Experience" section of their Resource Room. The Art Gallery in the Art and Sociology Building regularly offers internships to UMCP students, and those with art historical content may be used for credit in this department.

3. Talk about your ideas with ARTH faculty members whose interests and teaching areas coincide with the work you would like to do. Ideally, these should be people with whom you have studied before. Obtain the agreement of a faculty member to supervise your work. The faculty supervisor must be a regular member of the ARTH department faculty. Adjunct faculty members do not supervise internships.

4. Apply (through the relevant organizations) for a selected group of internships that best match your interests. Consult with your faculty supervisor about the timing of applications and course registration.

5. Once you have accepted an internship offer, obtain from Deborah Down, Secretary of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, ARTH, at ddown@umd.edu an electronic permit to register for ARTH 386, with the section number of your faculty supervisor.

6. Register for the course.

7. Work out with your on-site supervisor exactly what you will be doing during your internship.

8. Work out with your faculty supervisor exactly what you will be expected to do for course credit, in addition to the requirements of the internship itself. Bear in mind that an internship normally carries 3 credits, and so should involve the amount of work you would normally do for any 3-credit course. Since internships are tailored to each individual's academic needs and interests, requirements will vary; but the following should be expected.

a. You will normally meet with your faculty supervisor approximately every two weeks.

b. You are required to submit to your faculty supervisor copies of any written work produced in the course of the internship. If you intern in a gallery, for example, you must submit any exhibition labels that you write (the versions before editing, if any, by your site supervisor).

c. A written research project is normally required. This may be an extension of research done for your site supervisor. It should be written in normal art historical/archaeological form, with full documentation (notes and bibliography).

d. A written summary of work completed during the internship is normally required.

9. Complete a "learning contract," on the Web. This will require the participation of both your faculty supervisor and your on-sitesupervisor. Leave the completed form with your faculty supervisor, retaining a copy for yourself.

10. After completion of the internship, your site supervisor should submit a report to your faculty supervisor. The faculty supervisor will submit a grade for you, based on that reportand on any additional work done for academic credit.