The Pitt World History Center is offering a Graduate Student Assistantship (GSA) in Public History for the 2019 6-Week 1 Summer Session (May 13th-June 22nd). We seek Pitt graduate students in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, at any stage of their program, who are eligible for university funding and interested in communicating to a non-academic audience about a topic in the transregional or global past. Your proposed activity must have a significant world-historical component and result in a completed public-facing project.
We take the term public history broadly. We require only that your project’s target audience extend beyond undergraduate majors or scholars in your discipline and field. Your application should explain how your project addresses the interests of a particular audience outside the university and should detail your current connection to that audience. For examples of past GSA in Public History projects, please visit the WHC education page.
By March 8th, please submit to whc@pitt.edu:
• 1) a 500-word document that describes a proposed project in terms of its intellectual significance and its relationship to the field of world history. Proposal should demonstrate a familiarity with the research topic, explain how work you have already completed will allow you to complete your proposed project within one semester, and describe the relationships that you have built with the non-academic audience you seek to reach.
• 2) a 250-word description of a one-semester workplan that will result in a completed project
• 3) a well-justified budget of up to $1000 for project-related costs
• 4) a C.V.
History students will receive preferential consideration, but we welcome applications from students in any discipline or program in the Dietrich School whose proposal substantially concerns the transregional or global past. The time commitment and remuneration for this position are equivalent to those for a TAship. GSA appointments also include individual health insurance coverage in the UPMC Health Plan for graduate students at no cost and a tuition scholarship including most fees. WHC Director Ruth Mostern and Associate Director Molly Warsh will offer intellectual supervision and guidance as you complete your project, and WHC Center Coordinator David Ruvolo will provide logistical support. This position is an opportunity for you to use materials and themes from your own dissertation research to create a public-facing project that can become a distinctive piece of your professional portfolio.