ORGANIZATION
The Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Outreach empowers the UVA community to direct academic resources toward the public good. A respectful exchange of views, data, and information is crucial to our work. Academic Outreach augments UVA’s mission to graduate ethically minded leaders by amplifying programs that clearly serve the public, and by supporting research that leads the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world toward a better future.
MENTOR
Ellen Blackmon, Senior Academic Program Officer
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
This internship will prepare interns for careers in any of the following:
- Academic Research and Administration
- Advocacy and Policy
- Communication, Outreach, and Publishing
- Faculty
- Non-profit
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
This internship will provide experiences to develop and polish the following skills:
- Communication (written and/or verbal)
- Data Literacy and Fluency
- Grant Writing and Funding Development
- Knowledge of Sector and Networking
- Problem-Solving and Analytical Thinking
- Project Management
- Self and Career Management
- Thought Leadership and Innovation
MENTORING PLAN
This PhD Plus intern is responsible for managing the University's application for the Carnegie Community Engagement classification. From the American Council on Education: "Community engagement describes collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity." The process of applying for a Carnegie Classification means taking an extensive survey of community engagement activity around the university; doing our best to assess its impact on the community, students, faculty, and staff, and looking critically at university policies and infrastructures that impact community engagement. Receiving a Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement would testify to UVA's public impact and signal to prospective scholars that community engagement is valued at UVA. Completing this application will require communicating and collaborating with offices around the university to build understanding of the Carnegie classification and collect information supporting UVA's case for classification.
The PhD Plus intern will work most closely with staff in the Office for Academic Outreach and the Equity Center. The PhD Plus intern will attend weekly meetings of the entire Office for Academic Outreach (OAO). These meetings will be held in-person with options for virtual attendance. By attending these meetings and sharing updates from the Carnegie application process, the intern will learn more about OAO's wider portfolio of work, much of which centers on community-engaged teaching, public service, and place-based scholarship. The intern will also meet weekly with their direct supervisor, the Senior Academic Program Officer, to plan and set goals for the Carnegie application process.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Community Engagement in Higher Education: The PhD Plus intern will learn about how UVA defines community engagement; what forms community engagement takes; what organizations/structures support community engagement; what are the best practices for community engagement; how is the impact of community engagement assessed, and many more lines of inquiry into UVA's public impact.
- Project Management: Submitting an application for a Carnegie Classification will require that the PhD Plus intern and their partners in Academic Outreach and the Equity Center establish timelines with deliverables, processes for information gathering, and also ways of managing communications to offices around the university.
- Professional Communications: As mentioned above, the PhD Plus intern will establish ways of planning and tracking their email and in-person communications to faculty and staff in dozens of offices around the university. In addition to tracking communication, the PhD Plus intern will gain confidence in emailing and meeting with a diverse set of stakeholders to introduce the Carnegie Classification process and gain support from other offices.
RESPONSIBILITIES
We encourage any prospective applicant to familiarize themselves with the main ideas and components of the Carnegie Community Engagement classification. More information may be found here: https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/elective-classifications/community-engagement/ Prospective applicants may see that the Carnegie classification application process involves submitting a lengthy electronic application which documents all the forms of community engagement that take place at UVA. Completing this application will require gathering information (qualitative and quantitative) from offices around the university. The PhD Plus intern will work with staff in the Office for Academic Outreach and the Equity Center to map out which offices to contact, and the intern will be responsible for conducting email outreach and in-person meetings with these offices. The intern will use this information gathered during meetings and correspondence to assemble the application.
DESIRED QUALITIES
Prior skills required for success in this internship: Time management, including ability to create timelines and set goals; experience working one-to-one with people; strong written and spoken communication skills
MODE OF INTERNSHIP
Hybrid (Combination of in-person and virtual work)
DURATION
Fall 2024 and Spring 2025