Internships and Careers

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Career Planning

Your history major will prepare you for employment in a wide variety of fields, but jobs will usually not seek you out. Whether you already have a job or are seeking a full-time position for the first time, you will need to prepare for a new career after you graduate. We can help!

You can start your career path inside the department by talking to our advisors and to your faculty mentor. If you intend to pursue educator licensure, it is vital that you connect with our program as soon as possible. If you are interested in law, check out our accelerated law program in partnership with the NIU College of Law and schedule a visit with our pre-law advisor. If you think you might want to pursue graduate study, visit our director of graduate studies. You might also consider a career in public history. To find out more about that path, contact our public history advisor

The department will help you along your journey towards an initial or a new career, but you can also make use of all the resources the university has to offer. If you are not pursuing one of the dedicated programs inside the department, you should connect with Career Services as early as possible. We also encourage you to participate in First and Second Year Experience, whether you are an incoming student or a transfer. There you will learn vital skills that will help you both at NIU and after.

Job postings

  • TBA

Internships

As part of your preparation, you might consider an internship. For students interested in history-related internships, we help arrange placements under HIST 396. Contact Prof. Stanley Arnold for more information. The university will also help you find a suitable placement. Internship positions can turn into employment after the placement ends, so they are worthwhile to pursue. Even if they do not end in a job, they will give you vital skills and experiences that will aid in your job search. 

Internship opportunities

  • 125th Anniversary Internship, Regional History Center, Fall 2019. The Regional History Center is located in Founders Memorial Library at NIU DeKalb.  The Center’s goal is to acquire, preserve, and make available to the public the most significant historical records of the Northern Illinois region.  Since 1977 the Center has evolved from a small university archive to a multifaceted research center containing three related sets of historical records: Regional Collections, University Archives, and Local Government Records (Illinois Regional Archives Depository). The Center has a fully-staffed archives reading room that serves NIU faculty, staff, and students as well as researchers and the general public.

    The internship provided in partnership of the 125th Anniversary Committee, History Department, and the University Libraries will allow an undergraduate student from History to gain valuable, hands-on archives experience, which will support their work towards a history degree. The intern will assist members of the 125th Anniversary Committee, Sub-committees, and working groups with research and other projects. The intern will become familiar with research methods that are unique to archives, such as the use of finding aids, inventories, and archival databases. The intern’s main duty will be to perform independent research and work with primary sources from the University Archives and Regional Collections to provide content and source materials to the different 125th Anniversary groups and its programs and events (e.g., 125 Moments in NIU History, 125th Exhibit, Lecture Series and Diversity Dialogues)

    The intern will work under the direction of the Head of Rare Books and Special Collections until the Curator of the Regional History Center is hired (tentative early fall 2019). The intern’s schedule must fit within the hours that the Center is open to the public: Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm.

     

Contact Us

Department of History
Zulauf 715
815-753-0131
history@niu.edu

Our office is open Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., except for a daily lunch break from noon-1 p.m.

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