Wellesley Centers for Women Accepting Applications for 2017-2018 Internships/Fellowships
The mission of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) is to advance gender equality, social justice, and human well-being through high-quality research, theory, and action programs. The institute employs 35 students, many of them in part-time research and technical positions, and offers five internships/fellowships during both the summer and the academic year to Wellesley students, who gain hands-on social science research experience while working closely with a WCW mentor.
More than 50 students interested in working with the WCW gathered at Alumnae Hall on March 1 to learn more about the internships/fellowships in an event structured much like speed dating. Participants rotated from station to station in brief, timed intervals, allowing prospective fellows the chance to speak as many researchers as possible. Although many participants attended with a particular fellowship in mind, others took advantage of the opportunity to explore multiple possibilities.
The WCW is currently conducting research on topics including work, families, and children; girls and women in STEM; sexual harassment and gender violence; the use of social media to disseminate research for social change; media, health, and civic engagement; and entrepreneurial characteristics. Internship/fellowship recipients also have the option of proposing their own projects and may present their topic ideas to WCW researchers in the hope that one may elect to serve as a mentor. Lauren Mostrom ’18, for example, utilized this year’s Anne Ladd fellowship to develop a survey to help identify limitations of abstinence education, versus more comprehensive sex education. Recent intern Caleb Bercu ’16 researched and developed Seed (science education equity development) Kit, an education tool that provides hands-on laboratory science learning materials to girls in limited-resource classrooms. Both worked with mentor Wendy Wagner Robeson, senior research scientist at the WCW.
Past WCW interns and student research assistants have co-authored articles published in peer-reviewed journals and have presented at local and national conferences. This semester, interns and student research assistants will be presenting with WCW scholars during two WCW lunchtime seminars: “Media Use, Civic Engagement, and Health: Highlights from New Research” on April 13 and “Not Just on College Campuses: Sexual Violence and Title IX in K-12 Schools” on April 27. Most fellowships and internships also require students to present their research at the College’s annual Ruhlman Conference.
Internship/fellowship applications will be accepted through April 6, and awardees will be notified by May 1. Application information and details on internship and fellowship opportunities can be found at the WCW website. Funding is provided through the following:
Summer 2017:
The Anne Murray Ladd Student Summer Internship/Fellowship, established by family and friends in memory of Wellesley College honors graduate Anne Murray Ladd ’98. (Note: Students need not register for summer classes to be eligible for the summer internship.)
2017–2018 academic year:
The Linda Coyne Lloyd Student Research Internship/Fellowship, established in her memory in 1998 by family and friends of Linda Coyne Lloyd ’63, a longtime active supporter of the Wellesley Centers for Women.
The Shirley R. Sherr Internship/Fellowship, established in 1998 by a generous gift from Lynn Sherr ’63, and her sister, Lois Dubin, in honor of their mother.
The Class of 1967 Internship/Fellowship, established by a generous gift from the Wellesley College Class of 1967 in 1992 on the occasion of its 25th reunion.
The Morse Fellowship, established in 1992 by a generous gift from Richard P. Morse and Claire Wien Morse ’57.
The Centers’ work is sustained by funding federal, state, and local government agencies, private foundations, the Centers’ endowment (managed by the College), and the generosity of individual donors committed to social change, with key infrastructure support from Wellesley College.
