Internships and Assistantships

Duke University undergraduate and graduate students can gain important work experience at the Nasher Museum in many ways: internships for academic credit, paid summer internships and museum study grants, work at the museum, or graduate assistantships.

ARTHIST 310: Professional museum experience and chance to explore the museum from all angles.
2018 FALL INTERNSHIP APPLICATIONS DUE: June 1

To apply for a permission number for ARTHIST 310, the internship, email a current resume and cover letter to ellen.raimond@duke.edu.

The cover letter should outline how the museum internship fits into your educational and future career plans. Please also specify your choices for departments in which you would like to work. Relevant departmental staff will review applications and if selected, you will be sent a permission number to enroll. See more information below about different museum departments and internships at the museum.
 

ARTHIST 310 and ARTHIST 311 are practicums held at the Nasher Museum, designed to provide professional museum experience as well as an opportunity to explore the museum and its operations from a variety of viewpoints. Students must be available for a total commitment of approximately 6 hours/week for a weekly seminar with museum staff, plus 5 hours working in the intern’s assigned department (schedule to be arranged between the student and supervising staff). Students are evaluated on their work in their assigned departments, participation in the weekly seminar, and the completion of short, written assignments such as a blog post, artwork spotlight, and exhibition analysis. Grades are assigned by the supervising staff in consultation with the instructor.

Interns may apply to work with the following departments: academic initiatives, business office, curatorial, communications/marketing, development/external relations, museum education, or registrar/collections management. NOTE: only one student each semester will be assigned to the curatorial department.

Want to learn about museum career paths? Find out more.

Graduate assistants provide support to the office of Academic Initiatives. Assistants organize and lead tours for university classes visiting exhibitions at the Nasher, lead discussions in study storage, research on the permanent collection, and complete various administrative tasks, among other responsibilities. If interested, contact email nasheracademics@duke.edu. Complete details.

For general information on application and hiring procedures, please contact Kate Piva, Deputy Director of Operations, (kate.piva@duke.edu) or 919-684-5126.