Notebook and coffee—notebook lists practice, exposure, learning, and experience under Internship heading

Internships

Internships help Anthropology majors explore some of the ways they can apply their knowledge and training before they graduate.

Many internship students discover that they love a particular industry or type of job, helping them better define what they want to do after graduation. Just as important, some students find that the job they thought they wanted is not a good fit for them after interning in that setting. That experience helps them adjust their post-graduation plans.

The Greater Milwaukee area is big and diverse and provides an array of potential internship opportunities for students. As part of their professional development, we encourage our students to draw upon both UWM and personal resources to develop professionally or locate suitable internships, including:

Depending on the internship, the role can be paid or unpaid. However, whether paid or not, internships are a valuable way to build a resume before graduation.

  • Enrolling in Anthro 289 or Anthro 489 in the Anthropology course list of the catalog.
  • Networking through friends and family and their connections
  • Networking through student organizations or professional organizations
  • Using job boards and other online sites where internships are posted
  • Connecting with the UWM’s Office of Student Experience and Talent for resume assistance, interviewing tips, internship and job postings and more
  • Networking with alums of your program via Panthers Connect and asking questions about their internship experiences. 

Internships require a fair amount of initiative on your part during the semester prior to one for which you hope to intern. Typically you will have in mind a particular type of applied experience or a place where that experience is offered. You will then seek out either the Anthropology Department’s Undergraduate Advisor or a particular faculty member that you know specializes in that type of experience. You will discuss with them your ideas and ask for their input. Once a faculty member with the appropriate expertise has been identified you will need to make an appointment and ask them if they would be willing to be your faculty sponsor. You will fill out the Internship Contract Form, identifying exactly what you will do, where you will do it, how many hours a week you will spend there and the corresponding number of academic credits, who your on-site sponsor will be, and what will be submitted to the faculty sponsor to be graded.

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.