Eleven Ph.D. students have been named Versatile Humanists at Duke (VH@Duke) Interns for 2019, the most in the program’s history.
The internships provide Duke doctoral students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences exposure to work experiences, organizations, and professions relevant to their scholarly interests. Students can apply for internships at pre-identified partner organizations or propose opportunities of their own.
Launched in fall 2016, VH@Duke is supported by a three-year Next Generation PhD implementation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as funding from the Duke Provost’s Office and support from The Graduate School. The initiative provides resources, such as the internships, to help future Ph.D.s in the humanities and humanistic social sciences flourish in graduate school, and in professional paths both within and beyond academia.
The 2019 recipients are:
Siobhan Barco
History
Barco will intern in the marketing department at The University of North Carolina Press, learning all facets of academic publishing and producing a legal history podcast series related to her area of scholarly research.
Hannah Borenstein
Cultural Anthropology
Borenstein will intern with Elite Sports Management (West Chester, Pennsylvania), an international athletics agency that works closely with Ethiopian runners, the subject of Hannah’s dissertation.
Annu Dahiya
Literature
Dahiya will intern in the Community Engagement division of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, developing strategies for translating her research on discourses on the origins of life for nonscholarly and public audiences.
Alyssa Granacki
Romance Studies
Granacki will intern at the Modern Language Association (New York City), developing a toolkit of resources to support the work of foreign language departments in colleges and universities.
Caoimhe Harlock
English
Harlock will intern with the LGBTQ Center of Durham, designing and facilitating summer writing workshops for LGBTQ youth to help them develop and share their personal narratives with the larger community.
Ciro Incoronato
Romance Studies
Incoronato will intern with Respiriamo Arte, a nonprofit association dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of Naples, Italy. His duties will include supporting historical renovation projects and coordinating community education and outreach programs.
Sonia Nayak
English
Nayak will work for the Modern Language Association in New York City in the fall, focusing on projects that will provide tools, data, and guidelines to enhance English doctoral programs in the United States. She will aid in the larger assessment of these programs in an attempt to increase workplace equity and community through educational reform, innovative curricula, and addressing institution-specific concerns about funding, resources, and governance.
Cole Rizki
Literature
Rizki will intern with EqualityNC, working closely with LGBTQ youth from rural North Carolina. In this role he will design a leadership training program for youth fellows, offer ongoing weekly mentorship, and support the implementation of activist community projects.
Jacob Soule
Literature
Soule will intern as an editorial assistant with Failed Architecture, an Amsterdam-based nonprofit that fosters dialogue between an international community of scholars, activists, urban planners and architects, and the larger public.
Joshua Strayhorn
History
Strayhorn will intern with the National Humanities Center (RTP), helping to further develop the digital infrastructure supporting the Center’s outreach and professional development programming for humanities instructors at all educational levels.
Alex Strecker
Art, Art History and Visual Studies
Strecker will intern with Artworks (Athens, Greece), helping to expand professional development resources and international opportunities for emerging Greek artists.
