ACADEMIC INTERNSHIPS

STUDENTS MAY EARN A VARIETY OF INTERNSHIP CREDITS.

The Director advises and supervises upper level students who want to complete WS 400: Special Topics in Women's Studies through work and research at the Center or at an appropriate off-site organization. Recently a senior with a minor in women's studies completed "WS 400: Internship: Women's Oral History Project." In addition to work on organizing and transcribing existing digital recordings of women's oral histories, she collected two new oral history interviews. Her course research project was a scholarly introduction and historical annotation of an oral history. Other seniors have worked on special topics projects which involved interviewing women in the military and transcribing, introducing and annotating women's diaries in the Center's collection. The Director also supervises EN 299 Special Topics in Women's Literature Internships for lower level students, and supervises students in EN 401: English Internship, when the internship has a focus on women's issues.

Grace Holcomb is a junior English major from Mansfield, Texas. She is interning this fall for her EN 401 class and working on updating the resource library and the oral history files. Her technical expertise is quickly increasing the CD versions of our Golden Girl oral history collection.

Megan Cannon is a junior English/Women's Studies major from Calhoun City, Mississippi.  Currently the president of MUW's chapter of NOW, she is also helping plan next May's NEW Leadership Mississippi young women's conference to be held on our campus.  She is also transcribing a diary from 1956, written by a man whose three sisters were MSCW graduates.

Kathy Petty, a senior psychology/women's studies minor from Columbus, Mississippi, transcribed and edited a Mississippi woman's 1965 diary from the perspective of the Civil Rights Movement. As Co-head Intern, she assisted with The Tennessee Williams Scholars' Panel, The Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium and The Common Reading Initiative. This fall, now an alumna, she is volunteering to transcribe part of a collection of letters donated to the Center.

Ariel Keon, a senior communication/women's studies minor from Bruce, Mississippi, worked on an MUW history project preserving uncatelogued memorabilia in the CWRPP. As Co-head Intern for the Fall 2011 semester, she trained other students in oral history best practices to continue the Golden Girls' Oral History Project.

Lacy Jaudon, a senior senior social science major/women's studies minor from Batesville, Mississippi, interned in Madison with the non-profit Mississippi Optometric Association under the supervision of the Executive Director, Linda Ross Aldy (MUW Class of '73). Ms. Jaudon researched the history of the organization, helped plan the state conference, created print literature to solicit donations for those needing eye care or optometry school scholarship funds, met with clients, wrote grants and learned lobbying tips from Ms. Aldy while working with the Mississippi legislature. She also completed another WS 400 project researching the life and family of the first Jewish student to graduate from MUW (then the II & C), Mathilda "Tillie" Wiener of Montgomery County, who was a member of the first graduating class (1889).

Chelsey Trayal, English/Legal Studies major and women's studies minor Class of 2009, poses with the subject of her WS 400 project, Hazel Martin Howell, Class of '40.

Class of 2010 women's studies minor, Bettye Banks, from Columbus, MS, completed a WS 400 project on "Remembering the Civil Rights Movement."

Amber McFarland, Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science 2011 graduate from Mayersville, MS, interned her senior year. She scanned seven early 20th Century Meh Ladies and three issues of a 1927 campus humor magazine, the OH LADY!

Shannon Covington Caraway, 2011 English Education Graduate from Aberdeen, Mississippi, interned the final semester of her senior year. She begun her semester scanning a fragile copy of the 1907 Meh Lady, on loan from the Office of Alumni Affairs, and spend many hours organizing the Resource Library.

Ran "Tori" Tao, a women's studies exchange student from China Women's University, interned in the spring of 2011. She conducted an oral history of a Chinese woman and transcribed the Chinese audiotape into an English document. She also wrote a research paper comparing Chinese and American courtship and marriage customs.

Zhirui "Rachel" He, another women's studues exchange student from China Women's University also interned in the spring of 2011. In this picture she is signing in for her regular Thursday hours, and is getting ready to finish scanning the 1923 Meh Lady yearbook.