Internships
Real-World Experience
With internships, English undergraduate students are offered for-credit opportunities to explore possible career paths before graduation.
Career Exploration
A Foot in the Door
The English Department boasts an excellent array of rigorous, professional, and intriguing internships. Internship areas include supervised college teaching, community literacy, teaching English as second/foreign language, editing and publishing, grant-writing and research, online course development and editing, and public education.
A wide variety of experience is possible: designing websites, writing and copyediting articles and book reviews, teaching students in literacy programs, writing and editing newsletters and brochures for non-profit agencies, etc. You may generate your own position in a field of interest, or you may pursue established local, regional, or national internship opportunities.
Discover Department Opportunities
Internships are a great way to gain real-world experience, explore career options, build relationships with mentors and confidence in your skills.
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Greyrock Review
During this yearlong internship, students learn the intricacies of publishing, promoting, and printing a literary journal. As a staff intern, you will be expected to attend weekly staff meetings, where you will discuss advertising, promoting submissions, reading poetry, fiction and nonfiction submissions, copy editing, writing acceptance and rejection notices, and whatever else may come across the Greyrock Review desk.
Students participating in the Greyrock Review internship (E487B) will receive 1 credit per semester for 45 hours of work. Interns meet with the Graduate Student Advisor every week for an hour, and they complete assignments outside of the scheduled meetings. Students can register for E487B for 1 credit per semester for up to 4 semesters.
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Community Literacy Center
CSU’s Community Literacy Center creates literacy opportunities that invite community members—particularly people experiencing confinement or in recovery—to engage in innovative and supportive writing spaces and to value art that emerges through conversation and circulation.
Become a CLC intern and gain valuable experience facilitating writing workshops and hosting pop-up engagement events.
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University Writing Center
Do you love writing? Are you a a person your peers trust for advice and feedback on writing projects? Consider applying to become a writing consultant!
The Colorado State Writing Center is a free service offering inclusive, cooperative feedback on academic, personal, and professional writing projects. A relaxed and supportive place, the CSU Writing Center strives to foster better writers and better writing.
Applications to be a writing consultant typically open in April on Handshake. This is a paid opportunity and is open to upper-division undergraduates, as well as graduate students.
To learn more about the Writing Center and the work consultants do, visit writingcenter.colostate.edu.
Become a teaching assistant & earn internship credit!
Students interested in gaining teaching experience can become teaching assistants for English faculty members and earn internship credit for their work!
Some things to keep in mind:
- To become a TA, you’ll need to earn a high grade in the course you want to assist in.
- TAs for 3 credit courses can earn 3 undergraduate teaching internship credits.
Want a glimpse into what it’s like to intern as a teaching assistant? Check out our Q&A with Associate Professor Todd Mitchell. Todd regularly invites students to TA for his courses and is an excellent resource for learning more about the teaching experience.
Q&A with Associate Professor Todd Mitchell
Most of the interns I work with are Teaching Assistants for creative writing and literature courses. In such courses, I like to work with undergraduates who can help run smaller discussion and writing workshop groups. Since leading discussions and workshops with a portion of the class is one of the primary TA duties, the main thing I look for in potential TAs is enthusiasm for the course subject, an ability to help others explore texts, and a desire to gain teaching and leadership experience.
Serving as a TA in a class usually requires a similar amount of time as taking the class would, because you still need to attend the class and do class readings. However, instead of doing homework and completing assignments, TAs focus on helping other students develop their writing and thinking.
The most important measure of success for me is that TAs enjoy the work and experience the thrill of helping others learn. In addition, I want TAs to feel that they’re growing though the experience of being a TA. As Yogi Bhajan once put it, “If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.” I hope that rings true for many of the TAs I’ve worked with as I always try to give TAs ample opportunities to gain teaching experience, while having plenty of support and encouragement.
Communication is key! If you take a course that you think you’d enjoy serving as a TA in, don’t hesitate to let the instructor know that you’re interested in gaining TA experience. Even if that instructor isn’t planning on working with a TA next semester, they can recommend other instructors teaching the course (or similar courses) who might be looking for a TA to work with.
Hear from a current student intern!
“Being a TA as an undergrad has allowed me to learn more about learning and develop professional relationships that can be helpful beyond graduation. I would also say this internship has been highly beneficial for me to build professional skills that can be utilized in all career paths…it has also helped me build skills for communication, teamwork, feedback, leadership, public speaking, and facilitation that can be transferred to so many aspects of life.”
— Joya Haskin, ’24
Internship & Career Resources
Excited to find an internship or learn more about a career path, but not sure where to start? Check out the following resources to gain knowledge and learn more about available opportunities through the College of Liberal Arts!
Liberal Arts Job Boards
Unsure where to begin your job/internship search? The Liberal Arts Job Boards handout includes valuable information about experiential learning opportunities and internships you can obtain for academic credit!
Additionally, you can explore internship opportunities by the kind of work you’re interested in doing, including:
- Communications/Social Media/PR/Marketing
- Writing/Publishing
- Teaching or Higher Education
- Sustainability
- Non-Profits & Public Service, Museums & Public History, Politics
- Entertainment/Performing Arts/Media/Music
- International Affairs, Language, & Government
- Social Justice – Criminal, Economic, Immigration, LGBTQ, Gender
Choose Your Own Career Exploration Adventure
Discover what jobs and internships appeal to you by utilizing the Choose Your Career Exploration Adventure worksheet:
- Activity 1: Scavenger hunt for cool jobs & internships
- Activity 2: Explore career paths from alumni with your major
- Activity 3: Research career possibilities
Micro-Internships with Parker Dewey
Parker Dewey provides students access to paid micro-internships, short project-based experiences with employers that help you gain critical skills to build your resume. Students can create a free account, upload their resume, search for, and apply for projects that match their interests and skillsets. The micro-internship board updates frequently with new opportunities. Many of these opportunities are remote, making it easy for students to connect with employers across the nation.
Benefits of an Internship
“I am quite proud of being part of the Greyrock Review journal. One of my goals for the future is to become a part of the publishing world at some point, both by becoming an editor who helps other writers become the best they can be, and by publishing my own pieces so others can read and enjoy my stories. This internship allowed me to take my first steps into the world of publishing and it allowed me to really get a grasp of what my future might look like.”
~ Saul Guardado, Greyrock Review intern
“During my internship at the CLC I co-facilitated some awesome workshops at the Larimer Community Corrections Center and came away excited to continue advocating for social change and community literacy.”
~ Mia Manfredi, Community Literacy Center intern
“Working alongside my lit professor to verify sources for a new edition of A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I gained a transformative behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of literary publishing, editing, and research.”
~ Pete Wilson, literary publishing intern for Professor Zach Hutchins
“This internship was by far the most important thing I’ve done when it comes to my career. For the first time, I was able to experience the day-to-day newsroom environment and what it is like to produce regular content each day, and instead of feeling exhausted, I was inspired, excited and exhilarated. This internship definitely confirmed that this is exactly the kind of work I want to do.”
~Ian Bagley, Backpacker Magazine Editorial intern
Have questions? Ready to apply? Contact our Internship Coordinator
Michael Lamb | Eddy 334
M.Lamb@colostate.edu