Internship Program

Boise State student Aimee Rollins restores stained glass as part of Idaho State Historical Society internship
Boise State student Aimee Rollins restores stained glass as part of Idaho State Historical Society internship

As a historian-in-training, you are developing valuable skills in research, analysis, and communication. Employers want those skills! Put them to use through an internship that counts towards your degree, adds experience to your resumé, and develops your professional network. Some internships are paid, others are not, but all are invaluable — and there is a $250 award for each year’s Most Valuable Intern!

Internship credit may be earned by working with local, state and federal government entities, as well as with non-profit organizations and private companies. See below for internship opportunities and for instructions on how to apply for internships and internship credit. For more information, please contact Prof. Bob H. Reinhardt, Internship Coordinator, by phone (208-426-1367), email (bobreinhardt@boisestate.edu), or in person (office: History 173 – west side of Albertsons Library; for directions and orientation to the department, see https://www.boisestate.edu/history/contact/).

Internship Opportunities

Interns from the history department have served in many different agencies and organizations in Boise, the Treasure Valley, Idaho, and beyond. Here are just a few current internship opportunities:

We have relationships with a lot of great organizations, including:

There are also plenty of internship opportunities outside of Idaho, including:

Also! The National Council on Public History offers a jobs website that includes paid internships: https://ncph.org/jobs/?fwp_position_type=internship-compensated

We also work with students with particular interests to develop their own internship opportunities. The internship coordinator is happy to speak with interns and potential internship partners: contact Prof. Bob H. Reinhardt by email at bobreinhardt@boisestate.edu or by phone at (208) 426-1367 .

Enrollment

The Internship Application for Academic Credit is now on-line. For more information on the process and for the application form, please go to the Career Center website (the form is under “Internship Application Process”). For training on how to use the system, please contact Anne Evans at 426-4351 or anneevans@boisestate.edu. Part of the application process is an online workshop dealing with internships in general. It is important that you complete the workshop before filling out the application form. While completing your application for academic credit you will be prompted to designate the department (history), the coordinator (Professor Bob H. Reinhardt), and information specific to the details of the internship. That information can be obtained from the coordinator.

Internship credits are variable, i.e. for each credit you earn you must work at least 45 hours in the internship. Some internship tasks only take about 45 hours whereas most are ongoing and students can earn 3 or more credits per semester depending upon the hours worked and the duties performed. Internships are available for lower division credit (History 293), upper division credit (History 493), and for graduate credit (History 590). Students may apply 12 internship credits toward the baccalaureate degree, serving as fulfillment of upper division area requirements. Graduates in the Master of Applied Historical Research program may also earn up to 12 internship credits and in the Master of Arts in History up to 9 credits. In both cases internships will only be arranged with the authorization of the professor directing the graduate’s program.

If you are receiving financial aid your internship application must be submitted with appropriate signatures on or before the tenth day of classes of each semester. If you are not on financial aid and your internship is for less than 3 credits you have six weeks to register from the first day of classes.

Requirements

In order to earn a passing grade for your activities you will be responsible for the following:

  1. Fulfill the hourly obligation with the agency for the number of credits you expect to earn, i.e. 45 hours for each credit taken.
  2. Maintain a journal or log in which you describe your assignments and record the number of hours worked at each. It is also a good idea to enter here the type of learning experience you gained in each task. At the end of the semester you should present the log to your supervisor(s) to make sure that your records correspond to theirs. The completed log, with supervisor’s signature, should then be turned into the department’s internship coordinator during the last week of classes.
  3. Also, during the final week of classes you should submit to the internship coordinator a brief essay about your experience. This should reflect the impact that the internship had on your educational development. It should be typewritten, double-spaced, one-inch margins, standard 12-point typeface, and no more than five-pages long. Your name and the name of the agency where you worked should be at the top of the essay.
  4. Prior to the end of the semester the internship coordinator will request a written evaluation from your supervisor. You have the right to see the evaluation your supervisor submits before the coordinator turns your grade into the registrar. View a copy of the evaluation form as a Word document or PDF document.
  5. It is your responsibility to keep in touch with the internship coordinator about problems that may surface as you engage in your internship activities. The sooner you do this, the easier it is to make adjustments. It is our intention to make the internship process a positive educational experience where the student and the agency both benefit.