March 29, 2024

UMW Awarded $250,000 for Fredericksburg Region Internships

 

UMW Bell Tower

UMW Bell Tower

The University of Mary Washington has received a $250,000 grant from SCHEV – the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia – to expand paid and credit-bearing student internships in collaboration with Virginia employers. The grant is part of the Fund for Excellence and Innovation, also known as the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership.

The grant will support a program director who will oversee the establishment and operation of the Rappahannock Work & Learn Collaborative (RWLC), serving the Fredericksburg area, the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula, said UMW Associate Provost for Career and Workforce Kimberly Young.

UMW and the RWLC will lead the effort to connect employers to students and increase the number of high-quality internships and other work-based learning opportunities in Go Virginia Region 6. Employers, community partners, K-12 school divisions and postsecondary institutions will advise the RWLC and serve as an employer network. Read more.

Spring Training

Dancing the Macarena with a giant squirrel named Nutzy on top of a dugout wasn’t exactly what Kayla Crawford had in mind when she signed up for her summer internship.

Spring Training

Kayla Crawford completes a summer internship with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

Inside the Beltway

Internships in the nation’s capital provide real-world experience for students.

Breaking New Ground

Classics major Ana Tkabladze '14 witnessed a revolutionary archaeological dig.

Cultivating Careers

More than 300 UMW students annually participate in internships that provide real-world skills.

Three UMW Students Intern with Phi Beta Kappa

University of Mary Washington seniors Jennifer Crystle, Christine LaPlaca and Riham Osman have been chosen as writing interns as part of Phi Beta Kappa’s new two-semester internship program.

During the internship, the students will prepare a series of brief articles for publication on Phi Beta Kappa’s national website for news and alumni relations.

Phi Beta Kappa, based in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s oldest academic honor society focused on the liberal arts. The Kappa Chapter of Virginia was established at Mary Washington in 1971.

Historic Preservation Students Blend Humanities and Sciences

Historic preservation major Audra Medve is an intern at Mount Vernon

When Audra Medve first visited Mount Vernon as a child, she was struck by the timelessness of George Washington’s home, so much so that she returned dozens of times. She never could have imagined she would be an intern at the estate decades later as a senior in the historic preservation program at the university named for Washington’s mother.

Medve enrolled at the University of Mary Washington after the Navy transferred her husband to the Washington, D.C. area in 2008.

“There are very few undergraduate degrees in historic preservation available in the United States, and when I decided to return to school I realized I lived within 30 miles of a truly wonderful program,” Medve said.

Medve’s internship is one of a dozen this spring through UMW’s historic preservation department, regarded as among the best in the nation. Each year, internships range from local preservation organizations like the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation and the Fredericksburg Area Museum, to organizations in Richmond and Washington, D.C., such as the Smithsonian Institution, and even National Park Service sites across the country.

“Given our program’s interdisciplinary basis, we see internships with organizations representing all of our fields: archaeology, architecture, museums and planning,” said Doug Sanford, professor and Prince B. Woodard chair of historic preservation.

On the first day of her internship at Mount Vernon, Medve expected to work on a door from a barn, or cellar, or maybe a back room of the first president’s estate. Much to her surprise, the manager of the project led her to one of the main doors of the mansion.

As an intern, Medve performs the duties of an assistant to the Restoration Manager Steven Mallory, with her main task to restore a door from the 1750s to its original color and condition. The process requires paint analysis of dozens of layers of centuries-old paint with the assistance of conservator and paint analysis expert Susan L. Buck.

“[Her project] is the perfect example of the blending of humanities and the sciences,” Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Michael Spencer said.

Medve is able to apply coursework from seven or eight different historic preservation classes to her internship.

“You can’t help but be in awe of all the stuff you learn,” she said.

LeeAnne Brooks uses infrared thermography technology at Shelton House

For senior LeeAnne Brooks, her three internships have reinforced her decision to pursue a career in historic preservation.

“The hands-on experience is helping me to prepare for the job market,” Brooks said. “I love that the reality of historic preservation is even more exciting than the classroom experience led me to believe.”

This semester, Brooks is volunteering at Richmond National Battlefield Park’s Shelton House at Rural Plains Plantation in Hanover County, using infrared thermography (IRT) technology to find original features of the historic house. IRT is the measurement of surface temperature distribution through non-destructive methods, Spencer explained.

Barbara Yocum, senior architectural conservator with the National Park Service, said she is grateful for the work of UMW’s historic preservation interns at Shelton House.

“The infrared thermography study has provided valuable insights on the construction of the house that will be included in an upcoming historic structure report on the building,” said Yocum, noting that the more than 250-year-old house sustained shelling during the Civil War.

“This is a leading edge interpretation,” Spencer, who advises both Medve and Brooks, said.

Brooks explained that the process helps minimize the hidden costs associated with preservation work, allowing for a more accurate estimate of the restoration process.

“I love the hunt, the hidden stuff,” she said. “It’s like finding Waldo.”

As an adult student, Brooks’ main motivation is a career she loves. She’s well on her way with the historic preservation program.

“Here was an opportunity to work in history; to do something that I can be passionate about.  I’ve always loved historic buildings and sites, and here is a career in helping to protect some of this country’s most valuable resources – it is a natural fit,” she said.

The fieldwork projects like the ones at Rural Plains and Mount Vernon are a way for students to take lessons learned in the classroom to a new level.

“This highlights the caliber of students that are graduating,” Spencer said. “We are always thinking ‘how can we set our students on the right track?’”

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By: Brynn Boyer