News | 4 October 2021

CFA: THI Undergraduate Public Fellowships with WIITH

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Deadline: October 20, 2021 

The Humanities Institute is excited to announce a new Undergraduate Public Fellowship opportunity for Humanities students at UC Santa Cruz to work with Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH). THI’s Public Fellowships connect students in the Humanities to projects in the community in mutually beneficial ways. Students gain first-hand experience learning about positions outside of the university that build on their studies in the Humanities and give them professional training, while organizations benefit from students’ assistance and academic background. THI’s Public Fellowships foster positive collaborations between the campus and community, demonstrating the value of a Humanities degree for a range of careers.


About the Project: 

Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-driven public history initiative to preserve and uplift stories of Filipinx migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and greater Pajaro Valley. This academic year (2021-2022) the WIITH team is creating a new digital archive documenting the struggles, vitality, and resilience of the Filipinx community who first settled in the Pajaro Valley in the early twentieth century. The archive features Filipinx experiences through oral history accounts, photos, personal records, and material culture objects. Presently, there are two THI Public Fellowships for undergraduate humanities students to work with the WIITH team as digital archive interns.

People going through archival materials

Job Description: Digital Archivist 

We are looking for two undergraduate students to assist in the creation of the WIITH digital archive site. Digital archive interns will work directly with UCSC graduate students and archive team leaders, Meleia Simon-Reynolds and Christina Ayson-Plank, to process archival items and oral history interviews, input metadata for archival objects, and write object descriptions. Interns will gain hands-on experience with archival work and building a digital archive using Omeka. They will also collaborate with WIITH team members including WIITH and Tobera Project founder, Dioscoro “Roy” Recio, Jr., and UCSC faculty PI’s, Dr. Kathleen Cruz Guitierrez and Dr. Steve McKay, as well as community members and researchers. 

As THI Public Fellows, digital archive interns will be paid $15 an hour. They will be expected to work 10 hours per week from mid November 2021 until June 2022. Public Fellows may also receive an optional $500 summer research fellowship stipend from THI to pursue a research project of their own that is connected to their work with WIITH.

Undergraduate fellows will be expected to:

  • Input metadata for archival objects into an Omeka page
  • Write archival object descriptions
  • Assist in the digitization and processing of archival items
  • Assist in the processing of oral history interviews
  • Conduct basic photo editing 
  • Attend weekly in-person archive team work sessions
  • Attend remote bi-weekly team meetings 
  • Correspond via email and Slack with WIITH team members
  • Log and submit weekly hours of work 

Additionally, undergraduate fellows may be expected to:

  • Develop educational resources and a California ethnic studies curriculum using archival materials
  • Create a digital exhibition of archival materials using Omeka
  • Transcribe and translate archival materials
  • Attend Watsonville is in the Heart public events
  • Assist in planning and facilitation for April 2022 archive launch event

You’re an ideal candidate if you:

  • Are in good academic standing (required)
  • Declared a major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division (required)
  • Are able to work independently and collaboratively (required)
  • Have strong organizational and communications skills (written and spoken) (required)
  • Are punctual with digital communication (via email and Slack) (required)
  • Are able to meet in-person once a week (preferred)
  • Have some photo editing experience (preferred)
  • Have interests in archival practices (preferred)
  • Have interests in Filipinx American/Filipinx history (preferred)
  • Read in Philippine languages and/or Spanish at an intermediate level (preferred)
  • Have familiarity working with Google Spreadsheets and Docs (preferred)

People involved in Watsonville is in the Heart


How to apply:

Apply by submitting your resume with a short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why this job? Why you? Why now?

A tip for writing this cover letter is to consider how this position will further your undergraduate career as well as your professional career once you have completed your education. Feel free to be creative here. Work in the public humanities does not have a rigid framework and innovation and the ability to adapt is a key component.

Once the application closes on October 20th, there will be an in-person interview process. 

Students can apply via the On-Campus Employment – Employee Request System, using job number: 19354. If you have questions about the position, please contact Meleia Simon-Reynolds (msimonre@ucsc.edu).


THI’s 2021-2022 Undergraduate Public Fellowships are generously supported by the Helen and Will Webster Foundation.