The Museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies is pleased to invite applications for the Summer Graduate Research Assistant Program, designed for students accepted to or currently enrolled in a master’s degree program or in their first year of a PhD program. Students who have completed more than one year of doctoral work will not be considered.
The Mandel Center welcomes applications from students in all academic disciplines, including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, psychology, sociology, geography, and others.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVE
The Summer Graduate Research Assistant Program acquaints promising MA-level and first-year PhD students with Holocaust studies by encouraging participation in the broad range of scholarly and publicly available educational programs offered by the Museum during the summer months. Assistants will work closely with assigned staff mentors who will assign tasks related to research and program goals.
Research assistant projects may include but are not limited to: (1) Facilitating projects related to the International Tracing Service digital collection at the Museum; (2) Supporting the research, annotation, contextualization, and editing required for advancing the Museum’s Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945; (3) The organization and processing of two personal paper collections with the International Archival Programs Division, Romanian language skills as well as a knowledge of Romanian history during World War II as well as Russian and/ or Yiddish language skills are required.
In addition, assistants are expected to participate in a weekly training seminar led by Museum staff, which introduces them to key subjects, essential tools, useful methods, and approaches as well as career opportunities in Holocaust research. Each assistant will meet with a staff mentor who will assign weekly tasks and project goals and discuss the progress of these tasks and goals. Assistants are expected to familiarize themselves with relevant topics through assigned readings and to actively engage with Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies staff.
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS
Assistants for the 2017 year are required to be in residence at the Museum for 12 consecutive weeks, arriving on June 2 and departing on August 18, 2017. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies will provide a stipend of $3,000/month as well as an allowance to offset the cost of direct, economy-class travel to and from Washington, DC. Local awardees will not receive a travel allowance. The funds provided through this award may be subject to U.S. federal and/or state tax. Please be advised the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies cannot provide individual tax advice. Assistants are expected to perform their duties in the Mandel Center Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm.
ELIGIBILITY
Open to those students accepted to or enrolled in an MA program or in their first year in a PhD program at a North American college or university and have legal permission to work in the United States (i.e., US citizenship, US permanent residency, or proper authorization on a US student visa). The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies is unable to provide visa assistance for non-US citizens.
In addition to English, applicants are encouraged, but not required, to have fluency in one or more of the following languages: German, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovakian, Italian, and/or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
APPLICATION MATERIALS AND GUIDELINES
Applications and supporting materials are due by January 1, 2017. Decisions will be announced in early April 2017. All applications must be submitted in English and must include:
- An online application form
- A resume
- A personal statement of no more than two single-spaced pages in length. The statement should explain the applicant’s interest in the Holocaust and World War II and how the assistantship might further encourage his or her studies in this area
- One letter of recommendation from a faculty member or dean at the applicant’s institution that speaks to the applicant’s qualifications. The letter must be signed and on institutional letterhead. Letters of recommendation should be sent from the recommender, not the applicant, as attachments to SGRA@ushmm.org.
CONTACT
Please direct inquiries to:
Jo-Ellyn Decker
Program Manager
Visiting Scholar Programs
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
tel: 202.314.7829
fax: 202.479.9726
SGRA@ushmm.org
SELECTION RESULTS
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies will notify all applicants of the selection results in early April 2017.
This program is supported by the Albert Abramson Family Foundation.
