UI Labor Center – Summer 2022 Internship

Internship focus: Create podcast episode based on material from the Iowa Labor History Oral Project

About the internship site

The University of Iowa Labor Center (ILHOP) provides educational programs and research support to Iowa’s working people and their organizations. Since 1951, the Labor Center has acted as a bridge between the University and Iowa’s labor community.

About the internship

The Iowa Labor History Oral Project is an over forty-year-old oral history collaboration led by the UI Labor Center. With over 1,500 interviews, ILHOP is one of the largest and longest-running, labor-focused oral history projects in the US. It is a critical resource for scholarly research into the labor and working-class history of Iowa and the Midwest, as well as a multi-generational repository of memory and family history for Iowa workers and their unions. In 2020, the project launched a podcast, Speaking of Work, to bring the everyday and extraordinary stories of Iowa and Midwestern workers to a larger audience.

Intern’s work responsibilities

Responsibilities will include: 

• Conducting background and supporting research in relevant print, manuscript, and A/V materials
• Drafting and editing the episode’s script
• Recording and editing audio tracks using broadcast audio equipment and Hindenburg Journalist (a digital audio workstation or DAW)
• Assisting with the final editing and mixing process
• Writing show notes to support the episode on the podcast website
• Promoting the finished episode through social media

Qualifications & skills preferred

• Interest in Iowa history, labor and working-class history, oral history, public history, digital humanities, and/or library and information science
• Strong editing and communication skills
• Experience with or willingness to learn audio production and editing principles and technologies
• Ability to develop materials appropriate for public audiences

Reporting, location, & hours

This internship reports to John McKerley, Labor Center Oral Historian, ILHOP Project Manager, and Speaking of Work producer, and is sited at the Oakdale campus location of the Iowa Labor Center. Work occurs during regular weekday business hours.