Home /

Call for Applications: Humanities EXCEL Fellowship with Save Our Shores–Data and Advocacy Intern 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: Save Our Shores

Location: Hybrid (remote and in-office) 345 Lake Avenue, Santa Cruz

  • A Zipcar account is funded by the Humanities Division and can be booked for transportation as needed.

Duration: Academic Year 2025–26

Hours: 15–20 hours/week

  • The schedule will vary depending on programmatic needs and the candidate's schedule. Weekend work is often required; some holiday work may be required based on the program schedule.
  • Work hours can be split over 2 or 3 working days, Mon-Friday (9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.), with Saturday (available until 4 pm) as needed for community events

Pay: $20/hour

Mentorship: Regular check-ins and support from Executive Director Katie Thompson

What You’ll Do – Data and Advocacy Intern

Save Our Shores (SOS) is a grassroots non-profit in Santa Cruz, CA, focused on marine conservation. Founded in 1978 in response to offshore oil drilling threats, they played a key role in establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. SOS works to combat plastic pollution and illegal sand mining and engages in marine science education, community stewardship, pollution outreach, and advocacy for protective ocean policies.

We’re seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Data and Advocacy Intern to support our policy and advocacy efforts through data-driven storytelling. This intern will analyze internal data collected from our beach cleanups and community engagement events to identify trends, inform policy, and produce public-facing advocacy materials that inspire action.

  • Data interpretation and visualization (50%): Dive into our beach cleanup datasets (trash collected, locations, trends over time), as well as our volunteer and education datasets, and identify patterns and insights. Design engaging and informative visual tools such as infographics, dashboards, interactive charts, and story maps to help bring our data to life. Create public outreach material based on the analysis.
  • Strategy support (35%): Support strategic campaigns by connecting data to local and state policy issues, helping shape recommendations and outreach strategies. Assist with presentations and materials for public meetings, partner organizations, and elected officials.
  • Miscellaneous / Administrative (10%): Assist in other needs as assigned by the director, including programming and event needs.
  • Humanities EXCEL Programming (5%): 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)
  • Interest in environmental conservation, sustainability, or nonprofit work
  • Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Google Data Studio, Excel, or GIS platforms
  • Familiarity with data analysis and an eye for clean, engaging design

How To Apply

  • Updated resume
  • 1-page cover letter addressing:
    • Why you’re interested in this role and Save Our Shores
    • How your background and skills apply
    • What you hope to gain from the experience
  • Address your letter to SOS Executive Director Katie Thompson
  • Instead of a traditional writing sample, please submit a short sample of your data analysis and visualization work. This can be something you completed for a class, internship, job, or a personal project. Your sample should demonstrate your ability to:
    • Interpret a dataset to identify meaningful patterns or trends
    • Create clear, visually engaging graphics (e.g., charts, dashboards, infographics, maps
    • Present findings in a way that a general audience can understand
    • If you don't have a ready-made sample, you may create a short analysis of any dataset that interests you.

Review these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement.

APPLY NOW


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.

thi-logo-full-black2x.png ucsc-hum-logo.png

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.

  1. “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: