Undergraduate Advising
Internships and Other Opportunities
WRITING INTERNSHIPS
Our Writing Internship coordinator is Caren Marcus, whose office is located in Cathedral of Learning 617-A. To set up a meeting contact her at: caren@pitt.edu or tel. (412) 624-1737. After you have filled out an application and discussed your interests and goals, she will recommend a variety of potential internships. Caren will also help you with your resumes and cover letters.
Almost all internships are for academic credit, though occasionally one will offer some pay in the form of a stipend as well. Your best way to fulfill the academic component is to take the Internship course, ENGCMP 1900, which meets weekly to discuss problems and strategies in the work place. Questions about it may be directed to Pam O’Brien, redactor7@aol.com. For Film internships, you should contact Dr. Ellen Bishop, ebishop@pitt.edu. If you have general questions about internships, contact us in English and Film Advising.
Please note: The Writing Internship (1900) is required only of Journalism Track Writing majors who declared this track before September 11, 2009. For all other English Writing (and other) majors, the Internship is an elective.
Many English majors find internships a profitable way to combine their academic work with practical job experience. An internship develops important contacts that may lead to jobs or at least to decisions about your post-graduation career, gives you a look at the workplace in a communication/writing-related field, and varies your college experience. Just as a sampling, recent internships reported by our majors have included:
- Home of Design Pittsburgh
- UP Writing Center
- Branding Brand
- Governor Rendell’s Office
- Pittsburgh Magazine
- Pitt Athletics—Community Relations
- Maniac Magazine
- Lancaster New Era
- Pgh Agency for Jewish Learning
- NPR (WDIY Allentown)
- College Works
- Young Writers’ Institute
- JPL Productions (Harrisburg)
- Central Penn Business Journal
- UPMC Shadyside
- Montgomery Newspapers
- Mike Wittlin Production Co.
- Skyhorse Publishing
- Media Industry Newsletter
- Pgh International Children’s Theatre
- Pitt Magazine
- KDKA Sports Radio
- Journal News
- WHIRL Magazine
- Teaching Times
- London Research Programs
- Pearson Higher Ed Publishing
- WQED FM
- Sterling House
- Pgh Penguins, Community Relations
- City Paper
- Senesis Magazine
- Profitable Practice Strategies
- Obama Pres. Campaign
- Washington Hospital, Comm Relations
One of our students, an English Writing (Nonfiction) and Political Science double major, got a summer internship this year (2009) with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the principal daily newspaper in the region, and published several front-page stories. This is, needless to say, an invaluable entry for anyone’s resume, whether you’re planning to go into journalism or some other career. Other students have parlayed their internships into full-time jobs after graduation: for example, a Pitt English major who interned for The New Republic now works full-time for that magazine.
To find out about a possible internship for you, a) read all email announcements forwarded via the majors list (english-majors@list.pitt.edu); b) check postings on the bulletin board outside Caren Marcus’s office, CL 617A; c) contact Caren Marcus to set up a meeting to discuss possibilities; or d) you can seek out internships on your own by directly contacting potential employers.
Faculty Sponsored Internships
You may satisfy the academic part of the internship by asking a faculty member (this must be a full-time tenured/tenure-stream professor or lecturer in the English department) to take responsibility for meeting with you and assigning and evaluating work appropriate to your internship. This work will usually consist of written journals, reports, and/or material you produced at your workplace. You and the faculty sponsor will need to fill out a form and return it to English Advising, where you will receive a registration number with which to enroll. Just as in a class, you will need to complete work for the term grading deadlines and the instructor will then need to submit the grade for credit.
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS AND TUTORING
Several possibilities are available to undergrads wishing to get a taste of teaching and begin to acquire some first-hand experience.
- For English Literature Majors, consider applying for an Undergraduate Teaching Assistantship in the Lectures in Literature course (ENGLIT 0505). Each Fall and Spring semester, two or more UTAs will be chosen to work with the course, based on their GPA, level (primarily seniors), and motivation (a short statement of purpose is required in the application). The UTAs register for ENGLIT 1925 and are graded based on their participation in the lecture and the recitations, as well as written work that forms the bulk or part of a term project. Click Here>> for more information about the course. Applications are available in February and should be submitting before Spring Break; contact the Advising Office or the Director of the Literature program for more details.
- You can work for an individual faculty member who wants a teaching assistant. We register you as an English “Independent Study”: Obtain a form from the English Advising Office, which both you and the instructor for whom you will serve as TA fill out and sign, then return it to us so that we may assign it a “class number” (5-digit number for registration purposes).
- Tutoring for the University Writing Center is a rewarding experience for anyone interested in the teaching of writing, literacy, editing and publishing, and working one-on-one with fellow students and writers. To become a peer tutor, you should:
a) Enroll in the course ENGCMP 1210, Tutoring Peer Writers, offered in the Fall semester.
b) Enroll as a Work-Study Peer Tutor in the Writing Center in the Spring semester. The following year, you may apply for employment in the Writing Center for pay but not credit. For more information, Click Here>>
- You may want to tutor in other subjects. Take a look at the Peer Tutoring site, the Oral Communication Lab site, or the Math Assistance Center, for example.
OTHER INTERNSHIPS AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Office of Experiential Learning
The Office of Experiential Learning connects Arts and Sciences undergraduates with opportunities to earn credits outside the classroom by engaging in internships, service-learning projects, and first experiences in research or teaching. It places students in “hands-on” activities that are tied to current coursework, and encourages them to reflect on and analyze their experiences in an academic context. For more information, Click Here>> or contact:
Margaret E. Heely
Director, Office of Experiential Learning
B-4 Thaw Hall
3943 O’Hara St.
412-624-6828
A&S has a page that lists additional internship opportunities, including the Teaching Times and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services: Click Here>>