Mellon Foundation Collections Intern
Position Overview
General Description:
Interns will participate in a full range of professional staff activities. All interns will assist with a variety of departmental duties in order to gain broad understanding of museum operations, including attending various staff meetings and assisting at the visitor services desk.
Collections Intern Description:
The Collections Intern assists with various aspects of collection management for the museum collection.
Per the State of Kansas, student employees may hold concurrent appointments not to exceed maximum appointment and hours worked levels. However, concurrent student appointments must be of matching FLSA designation (exempt/salaried or non-exempt/hourly).
Interns will participate in a full range of professional staff activities. All interns will assist with a variety of departmental duties in order to gain broad understanding of museum operations, including attending various staff meetings and assisting at the visitor services desk.
Collections Intern Description:
The Collections Intern assists with various aspects of collection management for the museum collection.
Per the State of Kansas, student employees may hold concurrent appointments not to exceed maximum appointment and hours worked levels. However, concurrent student appointments must be of matching FLSA designation (exempt/salaried or non-exempt/hourly).
Job Description
Collection Care (90%)
- Cataloguing and data entry (recording measurements, condition reporting, recording inscriptions, location codes, etc.).
- Assist with processing new acquisitions.
- Inscribe objects.
- Process rights and reproductions requests.
- Prepare Incoming and Outgoing receipts.
- Assist with art handling.
- Participate in intern meetings and activities, including collaborative intern project.
- Attend related lectures and other events on campus and in the community.
- In coordination with deputy director, supervise and delegate projects for a student assistant when applicable.
- Perform other duties and special projects as specified.
Required Qualifications
- Must be a University of Kansas graduate student seeking a master's or Ph.D. degree.
- Fluency in spoken and written English as evidenced by application materials and interview.
- Demonstrated computer competency (Office, Outlook, databases, web skills).
- Must have a flexible schedule and be available to work weekends and after hours if needed.
- Routinely lift items weighing 20–40 lbs with or without assistance.
- Enrolled in six credit hours of graduate coursework or at least one hour of thesis/dissertation (approval form from graduate program required).
- During the semester term of the appointment, the student hourly must be enrolled in no fewer than 6 credit hours. For summer periods the student hourly must: 1) have been enrolled in no less than 6 hours in the past spring semester or 2) be pre-enrolled in upcoming fall semester in no less than 6 hours or 3) be enrolled in summer session or 4) be admitted to study in the upcoming fall semester. Student Hourlies may be undergraduate or graduate students. (Exceptions granted for GRA/GTA/GA appointments DO NOT apply to Student Hourly appointments).
Preferred Qualifications
- Outstanding written and oral communication skills.
- Experience with data entry or collection management databases.
- Experience with or knowledge of art making techniques e.g. printmaking, photography, drawing, painting, and sculpture.
- Interest in object-based teaching and learning.
- Ability to work independently and in collaboration with museum staff, university faculty and students.
- Knowledge of a foreign language.
- Interest in a museum career is taken into consideration.
Additional Candidate Instructions
Additional Information:
- This internship is an hourly, approximately 20 hours/week, position for 24, 2-week pay periods.
- This position is an 11 month (24 pay periods) appointment beginning August 11, 2025 and ending July 10, 2026.
- This position is also eligible to participate in the university health insurance program. Visit http://policy.ku.edu/graduate-studies/benefits-for-GRAs-GTAs-GAs for more information.
- Students may apply for one or more positions.
- Students who previously have held an SMA internship are also eligible to apply again for the same internships or different internship.
- Interns are also eligible for a $1,000 travel stipend contingent upon available funding.
- SMA interns receive a tuition waiver for up to 9 credit hours for both the fall and spring semesters.
Contact Information to Applicants
Applicants may contact the internship supervisor, Sofia Galarza Liu, reina@ku.edu, or Jennifer Talbott with questions. Please complete all areas of the application, including all application questions. Applications will not be accepted without all questions answered.
To ensure consideration apply before the application review date 8/15/2024
To ensure consideration apply before the application review date 8/15/2024
Advertised Salary Range
$19.31 per hour
Work Schedule
20 hours per week.
Anticipated Start Date
Monday August 11, 2025