Internships

The Department of History sponsors an internship program to give students the opportunity to gain experience in history-related institutions and activities. Students earn academic credit while enhancing skills and exploring career options.

While interning, students typically work with museums, historical sites, archives, and other historical agencies. Interns research, write, and work with exhibits, artifacts and document collections, and develop educational programs and materials.

At Illinois State, students have the freedom to design their own internship experiences while working with a sponsoring agency. Interns can explore how historical skills and knowledge are valuable outside of the field of history itself - on a newspaper, at a political or governmental office, in a bank, and many other areas.

How to Apply

Interested students should first contact the internship advisor Dr. Alan Lessoff at ahlesso@illinoisstate.edu.

• Necessary forms include:
  • Internship project plan
  • Medical insurance waiver
  • One faculty recommendation
• The internship project plan documents what interns will do during their internship and the goals to be pursued. Potential interns should contact the agency where they hope to intern, discuss what they might do, and complete this form. The potential site supervisor needs to sign it as well as the student.
• Once a candidate meets whatever qualifications the internship site has established and submits the signed agreement, the student will receive an override from the internship advisor in order to register for the program.

Report Guidelines

Students serving as interns and registered for HIS 398 or HIS 498 must submit a midterm progress report and a final paper regarding the experience. The internship advisor will provide interns with more detailed guidelines for these reports at the appropriate time during the semester. Students must also keep a log of the time spent on the internship. Students should request that their supervisors send the departmental internship advisor the brief summary evaluation described below.

Supervisor Evaluation

All interns should request their site supervisor to send to the History Department's internship advisor a brief summary evaluation toward the end of the semester when the internship is completed. Supervisors may write a letter or email of one-three paragraphs, or they may use the attached internship evaluation form. In either case, please send the assessment or any questions to Dr. Alan Lessoff at ahlesso@illinoisstate.edu.