Although not required, the degree’s aim to help prepare a wide variety of students for futures beyond their MA means that the department encourages its graduate students to consider participating in an internship at some point in their degree.
Whether students hope to apply to a PhD program or look for work in any number of other careers, the practical experience of putting their skills to use during an internship will come in handy — in many cases, the novel skills acquired in the required REL 502 foundations course on digital skills in the humanities.
To accomplish this, the department has already established relationships with a variety of on- and off-campus groups which are eager to work with our graduate students:
- Alabama Heritage magazine is a local site where MA students can gain greater experience proofreading, fact-checking, or even writing their own blogs and articles.
- UA’s Center for Instructional Technology has a number of projects that REL MA students can tackle, such as carrying out “big data” analysis or video production.
- The University of Alabama Press is available to help our students learn about both the acquisitions and editing side of publications.
- The UA Museums has a variety of projects on which students can assist.
- Assist Prof. Newton in editing The Bulletin for the Study of Religion (whose editorial home is in our Department).
- Assist the team that produces the podcasts at the UK-based The Religious Studies Project.
- Gain experience working with international students at UA’s Capstone International Center.
- Work on projects related to an important side of the university with the UA Office of Student Life.
- Participate in the work of UA’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
- Get experience assisting a high school teacher with the Tuscaloosa County School System.
Based on student interest the department is also eager to contact other groups, on or off campus, as possible internship sites.
Internships are unpaid and either for credit (REL 565) or non-credit; they can vary in time commitment, from 5 hours per week for approximately 10 weeks to more time, all depending on what sort of experience the students want and what skills they’re hoping to learn and use in the future. Internships can be carried out in the fall, spring, or summer semester and are all supervised, in cooperation with our graduate director.
More Information
If you’re interested in completing an internship, please contact our graduate director, Prof. Vaia Touna, vaia.touna@ua.edu. You may also visit our blog to learn about internship opportunities or read a post by a former graduate student.