Call for Applications: Humanities EXCEL Fellowship with Open Campus–Editorial Assistant 2025-2026
We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This internship is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization.
Application Deadline: May 18, 2025
The Humanities Experiential Career Exploration and Learning (EXCEL) Program connects undergraduate Humanities majors and minors with community partners for paid internships. Fellows gain valuable professional experience while exploring potential career paths.
Internship Details
Partner Organization: Open Campus. Open Campus in a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education. We work with 17 local news organizations around the country to support their reporting on their local colleges and universities.
Location: The fellowship will be remote. Fellows will need access to a computer and the Internet.
Duration: Academic Year 2025–26
Hours: 10–20 hours/week
Pay: $20/hour
Mentorship: Regular check-ins and support from Charlotte West
What You’ll Do – Editorial Assistant
You'll work with the team, especially national reporter Charlotte West, who covers prison education and writes the College Inside newsletter. While there may be some writing opportunities, the role primarily involves supporting our editorial products and processes.
- Assist in managing correspondence and communication from people who are incarcerated, including transcribing submissions to our College Inside newsletter from incarcerated writers.
- Manage distribution of College Inside to prison libraries and prison education programs.
- Assist with updating content on the Open Campus website.
- Help promote Open Campus content across our social media accounts and suggest new ideas for engaging with our readers.
- Contribute research, reporting, and writing to our College Inside and other Open Campus newsletters.
- Participate in summer training with Open Campus’ current fellow. There is also the possibility to attend Rise Up, a virtual conference about prison education around September 9-10 (exact dates TBD).
- Humanities EXCEL Programming: Attend two cohort meetings each quarter when possible and participate in asynchronous Canvas experiential learning reflection.
Eligibility & Qualifications
- You must be a declared or proposed major or minor in a Humanities Division department and have good academic standing. If proposed, declare by June.
- Eligible majors: Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Classical Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- Eligible minors: Black Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, History of Consciousness, History, Italian Studies, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- You have work authorization (required)
- You can work independently and collaboratively (required)
- Strong communication and writing skills (required)
- Are organized, attentive to detail, and able to meet deadlines
- Are comfortable juggling multiple tasks at once
- Are curious about the world and enjoy researching the answers to complex questions
- Have some digital media and social media experience
- Have an interest in journalism and nonprofit news
- Have an interest in the higher education field
- Have experience writing, editing, and publishing content for an online audience
- Have experience with Canva
- While not required, we would love to talk to candidates with film, digital media, or audio production experience.
How To Apply
- Updated resume
- Writing, social media, or video sample (max 2 pages). If you have experience with journalistic writing, we’d love to read it. You can also share examples of social media posts, marketing campaigns, or videos you’ve made. We do not expect you to create these as part of the application. If you don’t have any of those, please submit a short academic piece (or part of one) or personal essay that you think best showcases your writing ability. (If these are online, you can just submit the links at the end of your cover letter)
- 1-page cover letter addressing:
- Why you’re interested in this role and Open Campus (explore their website!)
- How your background and skills apply (please highlight writing experience and any experience with social media or video)
- What you hope to gain from the experience
- Address your letter to Charlotte West
Review these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement.
Questions? Email Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu
The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, the UCSC Humanities Division, and private donors generously support the Humanities EXCEL Program.
Misconduct Disclosure Requirement:
As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts a conditional offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; received notice of any allegations or are currently the subject of any administrative or disciplinary proceedings involving misconduct; have left a position after receiving notice of allegations or while under investigation in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding involving misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of misconduct with a previous employer.
- “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC’s policies addressing some forms of misconduct:
