Internships

Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and Classics Lab Update

Posted by ehusleto
Student sitting with ancient world artifacts.
Lead Lab Intern Cole Himmelheber with some of the artifacts in the AMCA Lab.

By: Elijah Smith, Class of 2026

Since opening its doors, the Butler University Ancient Mediterranean Cultures and Archaeology (AMCA) Lab staff has handled, refurbished, interpreted, and cataloged various historical artifacts from the Ancient World. Located on the third floor of Jordan Hall, the Lab has employed many student interns to help AMCA Director, Archaeologist, and Classics Professor, Lynne Kvapil with the collection. Dr. Lynne Kvapil. Students earn credit or receive an hourly wage for their work. Recently, I spoke with two of the interns: junior History Major and Classics Minor, Cole Himmelheber, and junior Anthropology, and Criminology and Psychology majors and Sociology minor, Emma Podvorec.

The day-to-day activities of the lab vary based on what is needed. The Lead Intern, Cole, delegates and makes sure that everything is running smoothly and efficiently. The list of projects can be extensive but rewarding ranging from simply updating information in the in-house database to working directly with an artifact. Currently, Emma is working with an Egyptian funerary cone which she describes, as “my baby. So I’ve been like translating the hieroglyphic setter on that and then on any other artifact from different museums across the world to see how that works.” Cole is working with Boaty, an ancient Egyptian model boat, to refurbish it. The antiques are stored at a specific temperature range. The interns carefully avoid chipping the wood or paint and constantly check for mold. They are also working on display cases for the front of the Archeology Lab to present artifacts to the Butler Community. As Cole describes it, “Once that is completed, it might be just outside the door, but it is a mobile display case. So, there are many opportunities to integrate the wider Butler community to what we’re doing. We can see a lot of our little treasures in here.”

The Lab doesn’t just deal with artifacts, they also develop and cultivate a variety of research texts for students to utilize. While every college has a library students can pull from the HAC department has a unique one in the AMCA Lab. Previous students have used lab resources for final papers/projects, Butler Summer Institute research, and thesis work. Curious? Just stop by the Lab or email Dr. Kvapil.

 

Internship Spotlight: Pierce Greer

Posted by ehusleto

This is a blog post about my experience as an intern for the History, Anthropology, and Classics Department. – Pierce Greer

Writing for the History, Anthropology, and Classics (HAC) Department has been a wonderful experience. With this internship, I have grown as a person and developed many of my skills. It pushed me outside my comfort zone. I have also become much more sociable. At first, I was unused to the work. As the year progressed, I grew accustomed to it, and the work became second nature. I worked with wonderful people each week and talked to almost every professor about their experiences.

My responsibility for this internship was writing blog posts for the department’s website. During our weekly meetings, someone would suggest a blog idea, and I would pursue it. Each blog was different, but I always had to interact with someone new. I sent emails asking for a quick interview, and then I would take notes on their experiences. After I collected all the information I needed, I wrote a rough draft and edited it. The last step was asking someone to proofread it, and then I published it using WordPress. Every blog post was a rewarding experience, especially the earlier ones. I had to put in the work for them to be high quality. At the same time, I was inexperienced with WordPress at the beginning. As the year progressed, I became better at using it. Besides WordPress, I developed my Canva skills while putting together random event flyers and the Monday Minute every other week. Canva was confusing sometimes, but I pushed through and made it work.

Being an intern for the HAC Department has been an excellent experience. It pushed me to grow, and I developed and learned skills along the way. I also got to work with many wonderful people and build connections with many people in the HAC Department. Although I do not know what I want to do in the future, this internship has allowed me to grow. I got to see what work I like and how I can try and find it after I graduate from Butler University. I had a lot of fun. This internship has helped me in multiple ways, and I am forever grateful. 

Student Spotlight: Leah Ollie

Posted by pgreer

During the 2023 summer, student Leah Ollie interned at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., as a part of the Because of Her Story Cohort Program. Majoring in English and minoring in Anthropology and Museum Studies, Ollie felt this internship would help sharpen her skills and learn more about potential job opportunities. Over ten weeks, her internship did just that. 

Ollie was a part of the Because of Her Story Cohort through the Smithsonian Institution,, which works to amplify women’s stories to tell a more complete narrative of American history. The program sheds light on figures not found in the history books. Working at the National Museum of Natural History with other interns, Ollie spent much time in the anthropology section of the museum. Diving deep into the archives, she uncovered the stories of the women who unofficially worked in the department. Along with her research partner, they maintained a spreadsheet and wrote biographies of the women they researched. At the end of the internship, they posted the stories of these women on social media. These women were often the wives of curators, and they did a lot of the labor. Working as unpaid laborers, the museum did not recognize them for their work. This internship uncovered their stories and also presented Ollie with many learning opportunities. 

 

While a part of the Because of Her Story Cohort, Ollie learned from fellow interns and professionals in the anthropology and museum fields. At the National Museum of Natural History, the experts told her about museum expectations and taught her more about preservation and conservation. She realized how intensive it was to work in collections and archives and how there were multiple paths to becoming a museum curator. At the same time, she saw how rewarding the process was. It involved a lot more creativity than she initially expected. Besides learning about the inner workings of the museums, Ollie sharpened and developed her skills in the internship. It showed her the different ways to research and share information. 

Because of her experiences, Ollie recommends for others to intern somewhere. She says, “It is a great way to get short-term experience and learn more about a potential career before jumping straight into it.” Internships provide time to see what you like versus what you don’t like. You become more prepared and informed by sharpening skills and developing new ones. At the same time, it gave Ollie the opportunity to build connections outside the Butler community. 

Student Spotlight: Aidan Gregg

Posted by pgreer

Written by student Aiden Gregg as a part of his internship experience in Greece:

This semester, as part of my study abroad program, College Year in Athens (CYA), I have had the opportunity to intern with the Wiener Lab. The Wiener Lab is a research department of the American School for Classical Studies at Athens. The American School is a research institution dedicated to studying Greek archaeology, history, language, and other disciplines under the umbrella of Classical Studies. The lab is located on the main campus of the American School — at the foot of Mount Lycabettus — and is split between two buildings, colloquially referred to as the “old” and “new” labs. For this internship, I have spent most of my time in the old lab, assisting my supervisor, Anna Karligkioti, in processing materials for her research project. 

Most of my work for this internship involves cleaning human bones and doing basic identification and grouping. Most bones can be cleaned with a toothbrush, some water, and a small wooden pick, though some thinner bones require more gentle treatment than others. Cleaning the skeletal elements allows my supervisor to identify pathologies on the surface of the bone, which is important to her research. Special care must be taken with some cranial bones, especially mandibles with teeth in place. The teeth can be used for DNA extraction and the cleaning process can make that difficult. Ironically, brushing the teeth can also cause the teeth to appear to have pathologies they did not have originally. As part of the cleaning process, I have become more familiar with human skeletal elements, and how they typically look. I am beginning to understand how to identify more obvious pathologies in the bone, specifically those associated with breakage during life. Additionally, my supervisor has shown me how to use cranial and pelvic morphology to estimate age and sex. 

My work aids my supervisor in conducting bioarchaeological analyses of the material for her dissertation. The skeletal material for this part of the project comes from a cemetery near Thebes in Boeotia. She also plans to look at skeletal material from a cemetery in the Mesogeia Plain, in Attica. The cemetery near Thebes contained at least 843 burials from the Geometric to Early Roman periods, though all the remains I have worked with were from the Hellenistic period. My supervisor is currently focusing on using biodistance analysis to understand kinship patterns and mobility in this area of the Greek mainland. 

Biodistance analysis uses skeletal morphological traits and analysis of phenotypic variation to understand how people are biologically related to one another. For this, teeth are especially important as they tend to exhibit normal morphological variation and some dental traits have higher heritability and are good for establishing a degree of relatedness. So far, this study has looked at 13 individuals from the Classical period and 24 from the Hellenistic. Following the assumption that people are buried with their kin group, the biodistance from one individual to another will theoretically help establish the extent to which biology influences kin groups. My supervisor has used cluster analysis comparing the spatial distance to biodistance within the cemetery. As of now, it seems that burials closest to each other do not necessarily have less biodistance, and are as such not necessarily as closely biologically related as they are with other individuals within the cemetery.

Additionally, preliminary biodistance analysis has shown that Hellenistic individuals are slightly more genetically diverse than the Classical. This discovery indicates a slightly higher degree of mobility outside of the main settlement in the Hellenistic period. With that said, it is evident that Thebans during these periods were generally endogamous, marrying within their communities and kin groups. In general, it seems that there was a relatively low degree of mobility during this period, but more skeletal analysis is essential to the project. 

My work with the Wiener Lab has uncovered a part of archaeology that I did not have much experience with before this internship. It has required me to excavate — so to speak — some of my high school biology and chemistry. I think this will be particularly helpful if I have to dig through some more bioarchaeological analysis for my thesis. My study abroad program was an essential part of getting this opportunity. I reached out to my student affairs department about internship opportunities, and all I had to do was submit a cover letter to get in touch. I would highly encourage others, whether they attend CYA or any other program, to reach out early and see how you can get involved.

Student Spotlight: Emma Gifford

Posted by nflong

Interview with Senior Political Science & History student, Emma Gifford conducted early September 2022

Q: What did you do this past year?

I was at Christel House International this summer, it’s a non-profit based here in Indy. They work to end the cycle of poverty for education, and they have schools here in Indianapolis, Mexico, South Africa, India, Jamaica, and they’re looking to expand further. I was on their Programs and Services team. I did some personal travel this summer to Scotland and Spain to visit a friend and did more personal travel to Costa Rica. I was in DC last semester, Rwanda the previous fall, so I’ve been all over the world in more than 180 days.

In DC, I was working for the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs. In that role, I was working on attending congressional hearings, other meetings on the hill, doing work with the budget, writing briefs, reports, those sorts of things for my advisors. People in the office cannot attend every event, so that’s what the interns were there for. It was a really rewarding experience. My favorite part was getting to work on preparing an Education Witness for a hearing on the bomb threats against HBCUs, so that was an incredibly rewarding experience, to be a part of that piece of history. I’ll say history loosely, as it’s not over by any means.

In Rwanda, I was studying the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi for the first eight weeks, and then for the last six weeks of the program I was working for the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, a nonprofit that works to eliminate gender-based violence and promote gender equality for men by teaching positive masculinity. I was first connected with them back in high school. They invited me to go out there after I had done some research on them for a high school class, but I was barely 18 and couldn’t really go then. I really enjoyed going to Rwanda, the semester abroad, so I’m hoping my Fulbright application can bring me back out there.

 

Q: How did you find out about these opportunities?

 

With Rwanda, I found out about it through the School for International Training, which I found through the study abroad office here on campus. I would highly recommend them to other students for the other programs they offer because they really emphasize field experience in the classroom, so most of the programs are set up so that at least some portion is spent doing research or working in some way in the country you’re studying abroad in. They do programs all over the world and they’re not just social-justice based.

Finding the organization was a total fluke. I found them through a Google search. They were mentioned in a master’s research paper from someone in the Netherlands or something like that. I just reached out to them, a shot in the dark, and they remembered me! It was wonderful.

With the DC semester, I got the internship through Education. I found out about the opportunity through a professor who was sending out tons of internships to students.

This summer, I found out about Christel House International through a program called the Fehribach Center. It’s for students with disabilities to get connected to internships in the Indianapolis area. Students who are interested can go to SDS here on campus, because they originally introduced me to the program. I’ve gotten most of these great experiences with connections through Butler, there are a lot of great opportunities here.

Q: What skills did you already have that you were able to use, and how did this department at Butler help you prepare for these experiences?

I would say that writing and public speaking are two skills that I’m constantly working on, that I’ve gotten from my history classes and have continued honing over the last year. Advocacy is something that I’m very passionate about, which requires good writing and public speaking skills. In all of my roles in the last year, I’ve gotten to play an advocate in some way or another. Having those opportunities to expand upon these skills has been incredible, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. At no other school would I be able to have the number of experiences that I’ve had and still graduate in four years with three majors and potentially another minor.

Q: What skills did you gain from these experiences?

I can attribute most of the skills that I gained to my experiences in Rwanda. I learned so much from them and my experiences about kindness and being empathetic and compassionate towards other people. I think in today’s day and age you have to take the time to understand where people are coming from, regardless of whether or not you agree with them, which is something that’s very difficult to do. I never want to compare the genocide to everyday conflicts or anything like that, but the broad strokes of conflict resolution are still present in both. The matter of just sitting down with someone and having a conversation with them, being respectful, empathetic, and compassionate towards where they might be coming from can be very difficult to do, but it’s so worth it. It takes a while to get to the point where that becomes easy, so all the credit to people who work hard on things like that.

Q: How did your experiences help advance your plans for the future?

My biggest, again, is Rwanda. I’m applying for a Fulbright Grant that will hopefully bring me back to Rwanda to do research on teaching or re-teaching gender norms to youth there in an effort to promote gender equality.

After working for the Department of Education, I don’t think I want to work for the federal government again, nothing against them. However, it’s important to understand how the federal government works. In social justice initiatives, I’m going to have to work with governments in some capacity, so it’s important to understand how they function. That was important, and now I’m leaning more towards doing social justice work more broadly.

This past summer working for Christel House International was really rewarding. It tied together my passion for education and using that as a tool to create a better society. I’m seeing education as a platform to get kids to be their own people, to make their own decisions to work collaboratively with one another.

Q: What was your favorite part about these experiences?

I can say that my least favorite part is that it’s all over! I’d have to say that my favorite part is the people that I’ve met, I’ve met so many different people in the last year, but then also the wade range of experiences that I had. I was living in Rwanda and doing some personal travel in Tanzania and then a week later I was in our nation’s capital. I’ve had such a wide range of experiences, talking to really incredible people, and learning their stories. That’s probably what I love the most about history—hearing people’s stories and seeing how they’re all intertwined and listening to people’s life lessons.

Q: Do you have any advice for students seeking similar opportunities?

I would say, you know, read those emails! Read the emails that people send about opportunities. Talk with upperclassmen or really any student who’s had these opportunities, see if they can connect you. Networking in the social sciences is key to getting anywhere you want, to be honest. I’m on board with the TikTok audio that’s like, “What would happen if you just…called Taylor up?” you know? Just send an email. Worst comes to worst, they don’t respond, but that’s literally how I ended up in Rwanda. I was 17 and sent an email to an organization and they responded to me a week later. If I hadn’t reached out, I never would have gone to Rwanda and never would have been a Fulbright applicant. Just send an email! It takes five minutes of your time, and more often than not people are willing to talk to you for even a little bit.

 

Emma Gifford encouraged me to include her email, egifford@butler.edu, for any students interested in reaching out.

Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and Classics Lab

Posted by Elly Fieffer

The Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and Classics (AMCA) lab is a collaborative space for students to interact with each other and artifacts. The lab strives to put the materials of the ancient world into the modern classroom. The lab offers a formal on campus experience for students with artifacts to develop practical skills that relate to archaeological, archival, and curatorial opportunities. There are a variety of ways to be involved in the lab based on individual interests. 

These opportunities include:

  • Social media and Blog management
  • Organization and artifact management  
  • Metadata cataloging and database building
  • Artifact research
  • Educational outreach within the local community

I have truly loved my experience as an AMCA Lab intern. Dr. K is one of my advisors and she has made me fall in love with archeology and artifacts all over again. I have always been interested in museums, but this internship has made me more interested in archival and collections work. My primary jobs as an intern have been artifact research as well as working with the librarians to update on our metadata catalog to digitize our collection. This internship has taught me skills that I wouldn’t learn in the classroom that will apply to my post graduate experience!

Here is what some of the other current interns have to say about their experience:

Sophie Graham, Sophomore History, Anthro, and Classics Majors, shared, “I wanted to be an intern mostly because my schedule gave me so much free time I didn’t know what to do with it and I absolutely love Dr. K and wanted to help out in the Classics Department in any way that I could. I think that I’ve enjoyed just getting to see all of the artifacts that we have stored. On my first day working, I got to see real ancient Egyptian artifacts that had been donated to us and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

Gansey Petroff, Junior Classics and Psychology Majors, shared, “I wanted to be an intern because I wanted to become more involved in the department as well as explore my general interest in artifacts! My main job this semester has been accessioning and archiving information, specifically about coins and books. Because of this experience, I have learned to be comfortable with things not always going as planned the first time, but it’s okay to step back and re-evaluate and try again. This internship has given me more interest in museum work and archival work.”

Writing Intern for the History, Anthropology, and Classics Department

Posted by Elly Fieffer

The History, Anthropology, and Classics Department seeks a student writing intern to assist with projects throughout the academic year. Past projects include writing blog articles and newsletters, conducting focus groups, planning and creating promotional materials for events.

Writing interns will be asked to:

  • Conduct research, including personal interviews, archives and online resources
  • Communicate with professors, alumni, and fellow students to discover or research relevant articles
  • Write and edit with precision and clarity
  • Use WordPress to publish blog posts
  • Use Google Drive to collaborate with staff and other interns
  • Use Canva to create graphics and flyers
  • Work independently and within deadlines
  • Collaborate on other special projects

Applications for next year’s writing internship are now open until Friday May 6th!

Here’s what Chloe Meredith and I have to say about own experience as interns:

“This internship has been an influential experience for me! As a student, I have developed a number of new skills while expanding upon previous ones outside of the classroom. From my first article, reaching out to recent Alumna Claudia Vinci, to my most recent, The Enrollment Apocalypse, I have expanded my writing skills to consider the needs of the audience, you! I have enjoyed brainstorming ideas with Amy and following our inspirations to create these projects and articles. It has been daunting when trying to pinpoint what is interesting or useful, but I have been supported in exploring and executing my ideas. It has been incredible to network with a number of students, alumni, and professors who have continued to expand my ideas and make these projects come to life. As a senior, I wasn’t sure how much more I could grow, but each day teaches me something new while also allowing me to build new relationships that have a lasting impact. The work feels purposeful and brings me closer to our little community! 

The work I do varies day to day, and that’s what I honestly love the most about it. I have learned how to be flexible and open minded. Some days, I’m mastering wordpress and canva, other days I’m brainstorming with Amy and reaching out to professors about upcoming events. Much of the work I do, I learn by experience. I have become comfortable with trial and error as a learning method, especially when it comes to problem solving and making creative choices. There’s no wordpress or canva handbook (although I wish there was). I have to work with the site’s structure to determine the best way of representing each article. In addition to posting the articles, I have learned to edit them. The process of learning to edit continues to present many choices that I have weigh individually, but also collectively as each change impacts the overall direction of the piece. 

As someone who longs to be in museums and archives, this internship has helped me gain confidence in my abilities as a researcher and as a liaison between past and future. When I received responses and basic data points, I expanded upon them to make the narrative more accessible for the audience, much like those history researchers I hope to join. People consider research as an independent study of a topic, but this internship has taught me that it is truly a team effort as our individual work comes together to create these stories.”

– Elly Fieffer, Senior History, Political Science, and Classical Studies

 

“Working as an intern for the History, Anthropology, and Classics department has been one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had at Butler University. When I first started, I had been disconnected from the department due to the pandemic shifting us to online learning, and I was incredibly nervous about getting involved again. I wanted to reconnect with my peers and department faculty, but struggled with how to do that. This internship was the answer.

For the department blog, I reached out to students and faculty to discuss their academic career paths and sought ways to highlight their talent. I was instantly reconnected with the department I fell in love with 4 years prior, and discovered all of the different ways our people celebrate history, anthropology, and classics! It added whole new meanings to the events I saw pop up in notifications, and I found myself actively rooting for others in the department in their academic endeavors. This internship is an investment in the Butler University community, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to become involved again. 

Beyond the current community, I sought out Butler alumni from our department, and the skills I learned in searching and networking with people inspired me to pursue a career in recruitment and administration after graduation! Employers have been beyond impressed with how an internship with the department has exponentially expanded my skills with finding talent and connecting people. This internship has made a lasting impression on my career beyond Butler University, and it definitely will for the next set of interns, too.

But the internship’s benefits did not stop there! Despite the fact that for me it started as a writing internship to help with the department blog, through collaboration, our team has adapted to different roles to better help the department. In the more creative direction, I have made flyers for the events in the department and helped put together different methods to get student feedback. Now, I am helping make the bulletin boards for the department, and I am so happy with the direction our team led me. Under Amy’s amazing leadership and with Elly’s incredible help, I have been able to explore the different ways I can use so many untapped skills and interests! This internship has helped me in ways unimaginable, and I will be forever grateful.”

 – Chloe Meredith, Senior History, Political Science, and Business Law minor

Kat Sandefer and the Archaeological Research Institute

Posted by Elly Fieffer

Interview with Senior Multilingual Studies and Anthropology student, Kat Sandefer conducted February 2022

 

Q: How did you find the internship? Why was it interesting to you? 

This past summer I worked as an archeological intern at the Archaeological Research Institute (ARI) in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. I heard about this internship through a Butler professor, Dr. Kvapil. As an anthropology major, I was very interested in learning about archeology and the lab work that goes along with working at a dig site. I learned so much about the time and patience that is required to do successful archeological research on a large scale here in the United States. I learned a lot about how to process artifacts and soil samples in a lab setting. I also learned a lot about the different unexpected aspects of archeology.  

 

Q: What was the central focus of your internship? What skills did you already have that you were able to use? 

ARI puts a lot of time and effort into making sure they are a public archeological institute, meaning they focus on including and educating the public. I had the opportunity to work alongside the children’s day camp, which helped educate the kids on what archeologists do in the field, as well as giving them a chance to dig themselves. All of the interns were also given a project that they were to work on over the course of the internship. Due to my background in corporate relations, I focused on raising money and improving the virtual reality prototype that was created of the Guard site, which was the site we were excavating. The virtual reality game prototype was created to give the public a way to see what the site would have looked like during the Fort Ancient period. My task was to interview the archeologists and interns at ARI during/after they used the Oculus to walk through the game, so that I could write up a report on ways to improve the VR. I also researched potential corporate sponsors.  

 

Q: What was the best part about your internship? What skills did you acquire through this particular internship experience? 

While ARI itself is a fantastic place to learn and work, the people I met there over the course of my 6 weeks as an intern were phenomenal. Students would be hard pressed to find a more welcoming, kind, passionate and educated community in this field. Even though I do not plan on going into archeology myself, I learned so many valuable skills that I can apply throughout my life. I plan on volunteering at ARI later on this year. I urge any students that are interested in archeology (even if they have never taken a class) to apply.

Carly Collins and the Caldwell Heritage Museum

Posted by Elly Fieffer

Image of Caldwell Heritage Museum in Lenoir, North Carolina.

 

Interview with Senior History & Anthropology Student, Carly Collins conducted December 2021

 

What internship opportunities have you had so far? 

Last summer I interned at a small local museum called Caldwell Heritage Museum in Lenoir, North Carolina. This experience really showed me how much work and dedication goes into managing a museum/historic site and why engaging with the local population is very important as well. 

How did you find the internship?

I was having some bad luck finding internships for the summer, so I actually just googled nearby museums and found one the next town over from my new house in NC. I called the museum and asked if they hired interns for the summer and the director said yes and I was welcome to come in and have an interview. She hired me right after our interview and I got started the next day!

Did you get any feedback from your employer about what made you stand out as a candidate and an intern?

She liked that I called her and asked about internship opportunities. She said that she values self-confidence and finding your own opportunities since that was how I got the internship. While I was an intern, she appreciated how flexible I was in completing a variety of tasks and assisting with day-to-day tasks.

What resources did you use to build your resume? (like professor help, CAPS, classes, workshops, online/youtube demonstrations, etc) 

I used CAPS and met with Courtney Rousseau, who was a great help with my resume and interview skills. I also showed my resume to a few of my professors to gain some feedback on what highlights my strengths in the best way.

Did this internship change your ideal career path? What was the best part about your internship? What skills did you acquire through this particular internship experience? 

This internship definitely allowed me to gain more communicative skills with people I wouldn’t normally interact with. Being in the South was at first a culture shock since I’m from the Chicago suburbs, but I really liked engaging with local residents and any visitor who came into the museum. I learned how important it is to keep community ties close while managing a museum or any organization that is meant to educate the public. My favorite part of my internship was making a brochure for the museum. All the staff and volunteers loved it and still use it for advertising!

What are you planning on doing in the future? (more internships, job interviews, grad school, study abroad, etc)

I’m currently applying to graduate programs that offer Masters in Public History. I hope to work in a museum or historic site engaging with visitors and the local population after graduate school.