Course ID: | ANTH(BIOL)(ECOL)(EETH)(ENTO)(FANR)(GEOG)(GEOL)(PATH)(PBIO) 4261. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 6 hours credit. |
Course Title: | Museum of Natural History Internship |
Course Description: | Supervised work experience with a natural history collection. Students will learn techniques and other procedures for curating materials in a collection of their choice under the direction of collection personnel. |
Oasis Title: | Museum Natural History Intern |
Nontraditional Format: | Students will maintain regular, weekly work schedules totaling 7 hours per week under the supervision of faculty and other collection personnel associated with the Museum of Natural History. |
Prerequisite: | Permission of department and permission of Museum of Natural History |
Semester Course Offered: | Offered fall, spring and summer semester every year. |
Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
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Course Objectives: | Objectives are to provide students with extensive practical
experience in basic curational activities in a particular area
of natural history and to introduce them to occupations in
natural history museums. Students will identify and prepare
specimens, record scientific data for each specimen, and learn
other forms of data management. Interns will participate in
the routine activities encountered in natural history collection
management and research, including field trips and other
opportunities which may be of an unusual or non-recurring nature.
The exact tasks will depend upon the projects underway in the
collection at the time of the internship. They will have a
unique opportunity to associate informally with University
faculty and behind-the-scenes operations in University
laboratories. Students must demonstrate the professional
attitude toward collection management expected of an entry-level
collection manager such as high levels of skill, accuracy,
punctuality, depedability and team work. At the end of the
course students will prepare a brief report describing what they
did during their internship, what they learned during their
internship, and where they think this experience might direct
their careers in the future.
Students employed by environmental consulting firms, private,
state and federal natural resource management agencies, and
museums are asked to perform basic curational tasks for which
they are seldom trained. This course provides them prolonged
training in the fundamental skills required to begin a career
this course should be preferred applicants for positions where
the demonstration of such abilities and experience are part of
the job requirement. |
Topical Outline: | This is a non-traditional unstructured course in which students
work directly with faculty members and other Natural History
Museum collection personnel on materials which provide the
student with hands-on experience in curating natural history
specimens and conducting natural history research. Students
will maintain regular, weekly work hours with the collection.
Faculty and other personnel will supervise interns, assisting
them in new procedures, and directing them towards areas of
special interest. A weekly work schedule of seven hours will
be arranged for the convenience of the interns and supervisor.
Students will choose to work in one of twelve natural history
collections: Archaeology, Arthropods, Botany, Geology,
Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrates, Mammalogy, Ornithology,
Plant Microfossils, and Zooarchaeology. The exact curational
activities and characteristics of each internship will vary
depending on the projects underway in the collection at the time
of the internship. |