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Experiential Learning for Humanities Students

In the humanities, we are thinkers and doers. Our paid undergraduate research and internship opportunities are intentionally designed to integrate relevant hands-on training with focused reflection in order to help you take your learning off the page and into practice. You’ll apply your humanistic skills in real-world contexts and develop career-readiness skills that broadly prepare you for success in the workplace and life beyond graduation.

Experiential learning: A cycle of active engagement in concrete experiences and reflection that comes in many forms.

How It Works

For internships and undergraduate research opportunities, you apply on Handshake. Then, you may interview with a faculty or community partner supervisor. If selected, you’ll receive weekly mentorship from a supervisor to not only learn about the job, but also what it’s like to work in that field. You’ll also meet with the Humanities Experiential Learning Coordinator, who will support you with professional development and other resources to help you make the most of this experience.

📅 Length: 10-Week Academic Quarter (with options to extend)
🕐 Hours: 10-20 hours/week
💰 Paid: $18-22/hour depending on experience. You will be compensated through student employment, or scholarship award, by UCSC.
💻 Hybrid or Remote Internships Are Possible

Examples of Experiential Learning Programs

Two woman talking to a man at a booth that say Okinawa Memories Initiative.

🔷 Undergraduate Public Fellowships and Internships - Students are placed at community partner organizations for up to an academic year to hold paid positions that contribute to research, programming, communications, and other public humanities activities at non-profit organizations, companies, and cultural institutions. Internships may be project-based.
🔷 Okinawa Memories Initiative Scholars Program - This public history project explores the postwar history of Okinawa, Japan, from a global perspective through collaborative storytelling. By learning in the field, students participate in global historical understanding in ways they could never achieve in the classroom.
🔷 Watsonville is in the Heart - This digital archive preserves and uplifts the stories of the “manong” generation (Ilokano/Tagalog for "older brother"), the first wave of Filipino migrant farmworkers to arrive in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Focused on the pioneering families of Watsonville and the greater Pajaro Valley, the archive enshrines the manong, the women who married the manong, and their descendents’ memories of migration, labor, leisure, and community formation.
🔷 Undergraduate Research - Individual or teams of student researchers are funded to assist faculty-led research projects in the Division, which provides a valuable opportunity for them to apply their knowledge and develop skills to make an impactful intellectual or creative contribution to their field.
🔷 Undergraduate Research Fellows in Linguistics and Language Science - A three-quarter program that includes a sequenced proseminar for course credit to orient students to research in Linguistics, a paid research internship, and an original research project.

Apply Now

All paid experiential learning opportunities for Humanities students are posted on Handshake and are promoted around campus and virtually through email.

Visit our Student Opportunities page to see currently open job postings and browse past offerings.

Need help preparing for applications and interviews?

Check out these Career Success resources:

Email our Experiential Learning Coordinator Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu with questions.