In addition to the student experience grant, the Connected PhD program supports doctoral students by providing internships in higher education administration at Brandeis University. GSAS collaborates with a variety of offices around the University to develop internship opportunities.
PhD students in Anthropology, English, History, Musicology, Music Composition and Theory, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS), Politics, and Sociology may apply for any of these positions. The internships provide meaningful supervision and professional development, a project with a concrete deliverable, and the ability to continue work on-campus and remotely. The Connected PhD program funds the positions, each of which is paid at a $21 per hour rate, and successful candidates are selected by the host departments or units.
Descriptions of Previously Funded Administrative Internships
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Anna Valcour, Musicology (2022)
Anna Valcour was granted a fellowship to work with AAAS-Alumni Collective. Anna researched, designed, and created a networking conduit to facilitate career mentoring for African and African American Studies majors as they approach graduation. She curated a reference list of AAAS alumni and conducted qualitative research to identify areas of interest and need regarding the AAAS-Alumni Collective.
Anik Chartrand, English (2022)
Anik Chartrand was awarded an internship to work with the Academic Fellowships Team. Anik researched and collected data on foundations and partner websites to create content for a new unit website, helped develop strategies to enhance synergies and partnerships across the Brandeis campus, and published a webpage presenting application resources relating to scholarships, fellowships, grants, and awards.
Giuseppe Desiato, Music Composition and Theory (2023)
Giuseppe Desiato received an internship to assist with the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts (April 2023). Giuseppe will develop skills in place-specific evaluation and assessment, event planning, public programming, and anticipated artist needs and strategizing methods for their support.
Anthony Lipscomb, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (2020-2021)
Anthony Lipscomb was awarded an internship to work with the Brandeis University Press that seeks to train graduate students in academic publishing. The goals of the fellowship are for the fellow to engage in multiple parts of the publication process including: evaluating proposals and manuscripts, managing the peer review process, copyediting, documenting workflow processes, obtaining permission for artwork, and producing public-facing content. Lipscomb will have the opportunity to observe and participate in the complex process of book publications and gain experience in each of the steps along the way.
Marie Comuzzo, Musicology (2021-2022)
Marie Comuzzo received an internship to work with the Brandeis University Press. This position’s responsibilities included learning the nuances of academic publication, evaluating proposals and manuscripts, managing peer review processes, copyediting, producing public-facing content (publicity), learning marketing and sales strategies, and gaining skills in acquisitions, production, and design.
Nataliia Laas, History (2021)
Nataliia Laas received an internship to work with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The goal of the internship is to assist with the development and launch of a new summer orientation program for Brandeis’ teaching assistants (TAs). After the TA summer orientation is finished, Natalia will continue collaborating on pedagogical workshops designed specifically for TAs on multiple topics including group discussions, grading, active learning, and inclusive teaching.
Yi He, English (2021-2022)
Yi He received an internship to work with the Center for Teaching and Learning. The responsibilities of this internship were supporting TA curriculum development, designing online artifacts (including modules, quizzes, activities, etc.), and creating online modules to improve students’ learning experiences and the TAs’ teaching experiences.
Moriah King, Anthropology (2021)
Moriah King was awarded a fellowship to work with the Department of Community Service in order to interface with and enact positive change within the Waltham community. The goals of the fellowship are to support two different initiatives within the department: the BIPOC Student Leadership Mentoring and Networking series, and Commitment to Service Award program. Moriah designed, conducted, and analyzed assessments to evaluate the impact of the department's community engagement efforts. She also collaborated with local community organizations and the Waltham High School to lay the foundation for mentorship and other opportunities for the Spring 2022.
Jessi Brewer, English (2021-2022)
Jessi Brewer was awarded an internship to work with the Brandeis Department of Community Service to help support the restructuring of the Commitment to Service Award program and the launch of the new service tracking platform. The goals of this fellowship included gaining a variety of transferable skills in the field of community engagement, such as establishing relationships with key stakeholders across campus and in the community; facilitating training for students, faculty, and staff; and developing structural policies and procedures to ensure/promote sustainability, equity, inclusion, and diversity.
James Praznik and Jeremy Rapaport-Stein, Music Composition and Theory (2020)
James Praznik and Jeremy Rapaport-Stein were awarded internships to work with the Music department on preparing for the challenges of online or hybrid modes of teaching for the fall 2021 semester. The goals of the internship were for the interns to support the music department in the unique challenges related to a music curriculum by researching how peer institutions delivered their music curriculum, advising the department about software, and providing pedagogical support to the faculty. The interns will support material for faculty and students to set up and use audio equipment and software to aid in online learning.
Miranda Peery, English (2022)
Miranda Peery received a fellowship to work with Generation One Network. The goals of this internship were to support the creation of resources for the institutional FLI website and contribute to the design, implementation, and assessment of Gen One’s current and emerging mentorship programs and other initiatives.
Lauren Crosser, Sociology (2020-2021)
Lauren Crosser received an internship at the Institutional Advancement Division to write and copy edit the promotional material for an annual giving program. The goal of the internship is to support the work of the Direct Marketing and Participation team by building a portfolio of content, creating social media advertising strategy, and determining tactics and channels that are most effective for communicating with various Brandeis audiences.
Anna Valcour, Musicology (2023)
Anna Valcour was awarded a fellowship with the Intercultural Center. She compiled and aggregated data detailing the ICC’s past, present, and future. Anna gained experience in developing a training workshop and in creating a visual project centered on the ICC’s origin and founding principles.
Natalie Cornett, History (2020-2021)
Natalie Cornett has been awarded an internship in the Journalism Program to help support the development of Professor Neil Swidey’s new course about journalism during the pandemic, as well as related programming for the community. The goals of the fellowship are to help organize and plan the campus events and develop the new course, including through outreach across departments and disciplines and to the greater Boston community.
Pyunghwa Lee, English (2021-2022)
Pyunghwa received an internship to work with the Journalism Program. The goal of the internship is to research and apply for grants to support the expansion of the program, help its anti-racism efforts, facilitate wider alumni engagement, and provide assistance to faculty as they work to attract more first-generation and low-income students.
Communications Specialist
Tamar Aizenberg, NEJS (2021-2022)
Tamar Aizenberg received an internship to work as the Communications Specialist for the Mandel Center. The goal of the internship is to craft a communication strategy for the Mandel Center that involves publicizing the humanities work going on at Brandeis to the broader community and world and, once the strategy is in place, to write content for social media and other formats based on recent faculty research and publications in the humanities.
Digital Media Manager
Miranda Peery, English (2021-2022)
Miranda Peery received an internship to work as the Digital Media Manager for the Mandel Center. The goal of the internship is to help develop the vision for Mandel Center’s social media presence in order to reach a wider audience. Miranda will also be the main point person to maintain the website and other social media platforms.
Jara Connell, Anthropology (2020-2021)
Jara Connell was awarded a fellowship to work with the Office of Communications. The goal of the fellowship is to support the Department as they learn more about their target audience. Jara worked with a number of initiatives including conducting market research analysis, improving internal audience lists for more effective outreach, and expanding the Digital Asset Management system.
Courtney Pina Miller, English (2020-2021)
Courtney Miller was awarded an internship with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The goal of the internship was to help the Office implement new web strategies to visualize data relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at Brandeis on their website in a user-friendly way. Included in this process were plans to: research how institutional peers shared and presented their DEI data to their prospective faculty, staff, and students; develop a plan to present their DEI data and think about other ways that Brandeis could collect data in the future; and arrange feedback sessions with key stakeholders (administrators, faculty, students) to get feedback on the proposed plan.
Sarah Beth Gable, History (2021-2022)
Sarah Beth Gable received an internship with the Office of the Provost and Office of Institutional Research to help improve assessment practices at Brandeis. The goal of the internship is to catalogue current assessment efforts, provide assistance to academic departments to improve their assessments, and research best practices. At the end of the internship, Sarah Beth will write a formal report regarding her assessment efforts which will be used for the five-year NECHE accreditation review.
Carey Slaeker, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (2020-2021)
Carey Slaeker has been awarded an internship in the School of Arts and Sciences to help facilitate and assess communication strategies within the School. The internship has multiple goals: auditing communications from the School in their website, newsletters, social, and print media and assess their effectiveness; work to highlight faculty achievements and projects in internal and external communications and streamline this process; and write and develop news updates for the School to help communicate with Brandeis students.
Anik Chartrand, English (2021-2022)
Anik Chartrand received an internship with the Student Accessibility Services Office. The goal of this internship is to respond to the priority improvements identified by the Campus Accessibility Committee and student collected data. This includes overseeing collection of classroom accessibility data, supervising undergraduate student workers, streamlining “user experience” of students seeking accommodations, and creating better processes for faculty requesting support from the office.
Douglas Bafford, Anthropology (2020-2021)
Doug Bafford was awarded an internship to work with the Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Office to help facilitate faculty-mentored research experiences for undergraduates. The goals of the internship are to collect data on student research in order to create a baseline for grant reporting and create a better infrastructure for collecting data in the future. He will also aid in planning and executing the 2021 Research Symposium. Lastly, Bafford will aid in launching and supporting a peer mentoring program for undergraduate students.
Alexandra Burkot, Musicology (2021-2022)
Alexandra Burkot received an internship to work with the Undergraduate and Research Creative Collaborations Office. The goal of this internship is to work with multiple stakeholders and the URCC to plan and execute the Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Symposium, analyze data on undergraduate student research participation, and help launch the peer mentoring program at the university.
Yi He, English (2022)
Yi He was granted a fellowship to work with the Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Office. This position’s responsibilities included developing, coordinating, and administering a new all-discipline Brandeis Summer Undergraduate Research Community. Yi assisted in recruiting paid undergraduate and graduate student peer research mentors, developed a peer mentorship training workshop, and oversaw communications.
Robert Cochran, History (2020-2022)
Robert Cochran received a fellowship with the University Writing Program to amalgamate and develop writing materials. The goal of the fellowship is to deploy a uniform accessible format for writing materials in University Writing Seminars (UWS), Composition (COMP), the Writing Center, Writing Intensive (Writing in the Major) courses, and the greater Brandeis community. In the 2020-2021 academic year, Robert reviewed the existing materials and developed a plan for which resources to synthesize and expand upon for further use, while also ensuring that they were all made ADA accessible. In the 2021-2022 academic year Robert will build upon this work by implementing and supervising the process of migrating resources to an accessible web platform. He will also develop and synthesize additional writing instructional materials and exercises for use in the Brandeis community.
