Recognizing that graduate students in the humanities and social sciences have highly sought-after writing, communication, and quantitative skills that can enrich the operations of units across the University, the Liberal Arts Graduate Internship Program (GRIP) is designed to connect graduate students in the liberal arts with those University units that can most benefit from their expertise.
The program seeks to provide humanities and social science doctoral students with expanded work experience in a university context without derailing them from their primary course of study or slowing their progress toward their degrees.
As a Liberal Arts graduate student you will gain:
- Marketable experience working in a unit within a major research university
- Expanded job opportunities post-graduation
- A deeper understanding of how the University operates
- Release from teaching assistantship or research assistantship responsibilities
How It Works
- Interested units post an internship position description to the Graduate Internship form including the name of an identified mentor for the internship.
- As part of the application, the Director of Graduate Studies for the student’s home department submits a brief email supporting the student’s candidacy and verifying that they are in good standing to Alena Sunderland (ant106@psu.edu). The email must indicate that the student’s dissertation adviser is also supportive.
- The unit then interviews and hires the intern for one semester (with the possibility of renewal for a second semester), providing 20 hours of work per week.
- The student’s home department appoints him or her as usual; however, the student is released from departmental teaching or research responsibilities for the duration of the internship.
Costs
- Hosting unit covers the cost of the student's stipend and fringe for the internship semester
- Hosting unit dedicates staff time to mentoring
- College covers the cost of tuition for the student
Timeline
| For Employment in Fall Semester | For Employment in Spring Semester |
|---|---|
| February 15: Deadline for hiring unit to submit a position to GRIP website | September 15: Deadline for hiring unit to submit a position to GRIP website |
| March 15: Student application deadline | October 15: Student application deadline |
| April 15: Unit deadline for hiring decision | November 15: Unit deadline for hiring decision |