Call for Applications: Humanities EXPLORE Undergraduate Research Fellowship with Watsonville is in the Heart, 2024-2025
Research Assistant
We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This role is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization.
Application Deadline: Friday, November 8, 2024
The Humanities Division and The Humanities Institute are excited to announce an experiential learning opportunity for undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz to work with History Professor Kathleen Gutierrez.
The Humanities Experiential Learning Opportunities in Research (EXPLORE) Program connects Humanities majors and minors to faculty-led research projects in the division. EXPLORE Fellows are mentored by faculty members to develop skills and knowledge to help them make an impactful intellectual or creative contribution to their field. Students gain practical experience and professional training that builds on their studies in the Humanities. At the same time, faculty benefit from students’ assistance and academic expertise.
Applicants must have a declared or proposed major or minor in the Humanities Division at the time of their application to be eligible. Please see the Humanities Division majors and minors list to check your eligibility before applying.
About The Project
Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-engaged research initiative to preserve and amplify stories of Filipino migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and the greater Pajaro Valley. WIITH collaborates with the descendants of the first generation of Filipino settlers to the Pajaro Valley in the early twentieth century. The project is a partnership between The Tobera Project, a Watsonville-based grassroots organization, and UC Santa Cruz faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Presently, two EXPLORE Program internship opportunities exist for undergraduate humanities students to work with the WIITH team.
Position Description:
WIITH is looking for two interns to support a project to evaluate the impact of our community-engaged research protocol. This includes developing interview questionnaires and survey tools; conducting one-on-one interviews with community members and artists who contributed to the WIITH community archive and/or participated in the 2024 art and history exhibition, Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley; and analyzing interview and survey data.
In addition to working on the evaluation project, interns will be expected to attend and support the project’s public events. They will also have the opportunity to work on WIITH’s ongoing community archiving and oral history projects. Community archives interns may be asked to digitize archival materials, write descriptions, and complete data entry. Oral history interns may be asked to conduct interviews with community members, transcribe interviews, edit audio files, and write descriptions for interviews. If interested, interns may also choose to create a digital exhibit or lesson plan focused on Pajaro Valley Filipino American history that activates WIITH archival materials and oral history interviews.
Interns will work directly with Meleia Simon-Reynolds, WIITH graduate student lead. They will also work with co-principal investigators Dr. Kathleen Gutierrez and Dr. Steve McKay and WIITH’s community collaborators.
EXPLORE Program interns will be paid $20/hour. They will be expected to work 10 hours weekly from November 2024 until June 2025.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS
- (60%): Evaluate the impact of WIITH’s community-engaged research protocol
- Complete scholarly readings on community archiving, oral history, and data analysis methods as well as Filipino American history
- Contribute to group discussions on assigned readings
- Develop interview questionnaires
- Create surveys
- Conduct recorded interviews
- Transcribe interviews
- Analyze interview and survey data
- (20%): Complete administrative duties
- Attend weekly in-person team meetings
- Communicate with WIITH team via email and Slack
- Maintain a Google Calendar
- Log work hours
- Attend and contribute to public events
You may also be asked to complete additional as-needed tasks (20%):
- Support WIITH’s community archiving project
- Travel to community members’ homes
- Digitize archival materials, including photographs and material culture items
- Write descriptions of archival materials
- Manage and upload archival data using Google Sheets and Omeka
- Communicate directly with community members and artists by email and phone communication
- Support WIITH’s oral history project
- Communicate directly with community members and artists by email and phone communication
- Conduct recorded interviews with community members
- Transcribe recorded interviews using Otter.ai
- Edit audio recordings of oral history interviews
- Process oral history interviews for archival preservation
- Write descriptions of oral history interviews
- Curate digital exhibits on Pajaro Valley Filipino American history
- Design lesson plans on Pajaro Valley Filipino American history
Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- You are a declared or proposed major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division and are in good academic standing. If your major or minor is proposed, you can declare by the end of the academic year in June. [strict eligibility requirement]
- 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 proficiently navigate Google Suite, especially Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms (required)
- You have strong communication skills and the ability to initiate email and phone communication with internal team members and external parties (required)
- You have strong organizational skills and are detail-oriented with the ability to meet and communicate deadlines (required)
- You are a self-starter who is proactive and can work autonomously as needed but also enjoys collaborative work (required)
- You can meet in person on campus at least once a week (required)
- You have a reliable method of transportation (preferred)
- You have knowledge of or a willingness to learn:
- How to conduct evaluative interviews and surveys (preferred)
- How to analyze interviews and survey data (preferred)
- How to navigate WordPress (preferred)
- Filipino and Filipino American history (preferred)
- oral history methods and practice (preferred)
- community-engaged research and/or community archiving methods (preferred)
Position Term: November 2024–June 2025
Hours: 10 hours/week
Compensation: $20/hour
# Positions Available: 2
Mentorship: You will work closely with and report to History Professor Kathleen Gutierrez and WIITH Graduate Student Lead Meleia Simon Reynolds. They will delegate tasks, review your work, provide coaching, and help you understand professional research. You will meet to check in at least once per week
Apply By Submitting
- Your updated resume
- A short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why are you interested in this position? How does your academic expertise and skillset prepare you for this role? What are you hoping to gain from this opportunity?
REVIEW these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate!
- Address your cover letter to Meleia Simon-Reynolds
Once the application window closes, there will be an interview process with top candidates. This job is expected to start in November 2024.
If you have questions about the position, please contact Meleia Simon-Reynolds ( msimonre@ucsc.edu)
The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, and the UCSC Humanities Division generously support the Humanities EXPLORE Program.
