R. Bruce McMillan Museum Internship

R. Bruce McMillan Museum Internship

The Illinois State Museum is seeking applications from college undergraduate or graduate students for a 2008 three-month internship in research and collections.  The internship program provides an opportunity for students to gain firsthand research and collection experiences while working with Museum scholars in the fine and decorative arts, anthropology (archaeology, bioanthropology, and ethnology), and natural and earth sciences, including geology (paleontology, mineralogy), botany (biogeography, palynology, paleoecology) and zoology (malacology, entomology, herpetology, and ornithology, mammalogy).  The Museum has geographic information system and genetics laboratories and large-scale comparative collections for botanical, archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and paleontological research, as well as facilities for archaeomagnetic dating. The Illinois State Museum has an interdisciplinary Landscape History Program and curates over 10.5 million objects and specimens that document long-term changes in climate, landforms, plant and animal communities, and human culture and interactions with the land. To gain a better idea of the Museum’s research and collection programs, please visit our Web site at www.museum.state.il.us.

Interns will be based at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Illinois and will work in the Museum on 502 South Spring Street and/or the Museum’s Research and Collections Center on 1011 East Ash Street. The internship pays a stipend of $1000 a month. To apply, please submit a letter of application describing your academic credentials and background, research interests, potential projects that you could pursue with the Museum’s collections, the preferred three-month interval for the internship, a copy of your curriculum vitae, and the names of three professional references to Dr. Bonnie Styles, Museum Director, 502 South Spring Street, Springfield, IL, 62706-5000; styles@museum.state.il.us.  For optimal consideration applications should be received by May 15, 2008.  The internship may be scheduled anytime from June 1 through the end of the year.

This internship program was named for and was established to honor R. Bruce McMillan, Museum Director Emeritus.  An archaeologist by training, Dr. McMillan worked for the Museum for 36 years and served as Director for 29 years until his retirement in 2005.

General Information

Illinois State Museum
Founded 1877
The Illinois State Museum promotes discovery, learning, and an appreciation of Illinois' natural, cultural, and artistic heritage.
General Information: (217)782-7386
Director's Office: (217)782-7011
Interim Museum Director: Michael Wiant
Press Contact: michael.wiant@illinois.gov