Department of History : HIST 490: Cooperative Education (Internships)

An Internship graded S or U

Course Description: History 490 is an individualized contracted field experience with historical societies, public and academic libraries, historic sites, government agencies such as the State legislature in Olympia, or private business, social service facilities or industry. It requires a student learning plan, cooperating employer supervision, and faculty coordination. This course may be repeated for a total of 12 credits but only 1-3 credits may count toward the History Upper Level Elective Requirement. Each student is responsible for arranging the internship, with guidance from History Department Internship Advisor Dean Marji Morgan in Hebeler Hall.

Prerequisites: To be eligible for enrollment in History 490, students must:

• Be a junior or senior major in History
• Must have successfully completed History 302 and 20 credits in history courses or equivalent with special permission
• Must have a 3.0 GPA or better in History and overall
• Must have completed History 302 with a grade of B or better
• Must have the recommendation of one History Department faculty member

Credit: History 490 may be taken for 1-8 hours of credit and may be repeated. For each hour of class credit, earned, the student is expected to spend 30 hours of time working within the internship (this includes time spent writing the final paper).

Benefits: Some of the potential benefits of an internship include

• Resume enhancement
• Access to letters of recommendation from the working world
• Refinement of your history skills in collecting information, organizing materials, writing and analyzing resources, and communicating the results
• Access to practicing experts in the field
• Improved job-related skills
• Redefinition of career goals
• Personal development (self-confidence and values)

Steps to an Internship:

• Visit Randy Williamson at Career Services on campus (online or in person); Veronica Gomez-Vilchis at BRIDGES, and/or examine options with History faculty members.
• Contact Dean Morgan, Internship Advisor
• Get your resume in order
• Secure an internship
• Get faculty letter of support

Complete your learning agreement and submit it to the Internship Advisor for processing and registration.

• (PDF format: http://www.cwu.edu/~career/forms/LEARNAGREE5.pdf
• or MS Word format: http://www.cwu.edu/~career/forms/LEARNAGREE4.dot)

2007-2008 Internships:

• National Council for Preservation Education Academic Year 2007-2008 Internships with the National Park Service & General Services Administration.

Suggestions: In the past, our students have undertaken internships at:

• the Thorp Mill,
• Kittitas County Historical Society,
• Ellensburg Public Library,
• Yakima History Museum,
• State Legislature in Olympia,
• Kittitas County Sheriff's Office, and
• National Museum of Arts in Washington, D.C.

Additional internships might be available with:

• Historic Ellensburg,
• the Clymer Museum,
• Telephone Museum in Cle Elum,
• Roslyn Museum,
• Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame,
• Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce,
• BRIDGES and
• CWU Archives in Brooks Library.
• HNN internship information

Internship Advisor: Dr. Marji Morgan, History Professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Hebeler Hall 202/Fax 1851. Email: morganm@cwu.edu.

Qualified students are urged to enter the History Department's honors program. To qualify for the program, students must complete 25 credits in their major and have an overall GPA of 3.0 and 3.25 in history. Honors students will complete the following requirements:

1. An elective course in addition to those required for their major in an area of concentration (United States, Europe, or Non-Western).
2. One year of foreign language courses at an accredited college or university.
3. An honors research paper (25 pages minimum) completed during HIST 481. A faculty committee will judge whether the paper meets departmental standards for honors.

Students who complete the above requirements will graduate with departmental honors. Please contact the Department Chair for more information.