Greetings everyone, from your University Museum and William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak! As Summer transitions to Fall and the University’s academic year has commenced, my thoughts are turning to the many University students whose volunteer work, internships, and employment with us make such a huge difference in our impacts on behalf of the campus and the community. You all know the expression ‘We couldn’t do it without you’, and in the case of the Museum and Rowan Oak this applies entirely when it comes to the University students who play such notably meaningful roles in multiple aspects of our functioning.

Students of the University come to us from a variety of origin points and pathways, and are variably employed as student workers receiving hourly wages; as Graduate Assistants receiving tuition stipends; as employed recent graduates standing on the cusp of their careers or their graduate educations; and as interns receiving course credit for projects supervised by the professional staff. There are two common elements in this matrix: the mentoring and learning experiences we are so happy to provide, and the sheer depth of our appreciation for their service to our initiatives and programming.

Each Academic Year the Museum hosts three Graduate Assistants, two from the Center for the Study of Southern Culture (‘Southern Studies’) and one from the School of Education. These assistantships are funded by a tripartite cost-share between the Museum, the Office of the Provost, and the host School/Center. In the current academic year, multi-year student worker and also Recent Grad Intern Greta Koshenina holds the Southern Studies GA position at the Museum, working under the supervision of Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Manager Melanie Antonelli. Serving as this year’s Graduate Assistant from the School of Education is Kassidy Franz, who previously served as an undergraduate worker in our Education programs. Kassidy is now a 1st year grad student being supervised by our Curator of Education, Rosa Salas. Both Greta and Kassidy have twenty-hour weekly assistantships, so their time on-site is the equivalent of a half-time position which permits a substantial range of project assignments and impactful outcomes of their dedicated work.

Working at Rowan Oak for the 2022-23 academic year is Southern Studies Grad Assistant Kallye Smith. Kallye works alongside Rowan Oak Curator Bill Griffith and Assistant Curator Rachel Hudson, and has a mix of visitor services (public tours), and Special Projects roles and functions. Adding to the student worker mix at Rowan Oak this Fall semester are two undergrads, Abby Dempsey and Lucas Thomas, both of who are undergraduate seniors.

Back to the Museum, we celebrate the service of additional student interns and part-time workers. Prominent among them is Reagan Stone who has just begun her part-time role as Assistant to Andrea Drummond, our Membership, Events, and Communications Coordinator. Reagan Is a 2022 graduate of the University with a major in Integrated Communications & Marketing, and dual Minors in Business and Museum Studies. Working with our Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Manager (Melanie) as a Museum Studies intern is undergraduate Sydni Davis, who also has an internship with the Black Students Union (BSU). Sydni got her start at the Museum as a Visitor Services student worker at the Admissions Desk, where student employees are supervised by the Museum’s Fiscal and Administrative Manager Michelle Perry.

Also employed in the Visitor Services admissions role is undergraduate Sara Emma Kahne who returns to us this fall to continue her Academic Year 2021–22 work in that role. The newest of our Student interns is Museum Studies undergraduate Samantha Case, whose project assignments and mentoring will be with our Curator of Education (Rosa). In a future issue of 5th & University I’ll provide updates on additional student workers who are about to be identified, commencing their work in the early semester at the Admissions Desk as assigned by Michelle, or with the Education programs under Rosa’s supervision.

My purpose in celebrating and presenting our many student workers is to help all of you as members and stakeholders to have the most complete understanding possible of how we are such a notably productive Museum and literary heritage site with a University professional staff of eight at the Museum and two at Rowan Oak. The answer is the myriad ways in which our students augment our team and strengthen our personnel needs across so many dimensions of our functioning.

And perhaps best of all, in the process we impact their lives by enriching their learning experiences, and very often also by inspiring graduate school or early-career directions in the arts, culture, and heritage fields.

Please come join us this Fall for a wide range of great exhibitions and programs, and help us by encouraging friends, family, and associates to opt in to our e-news for all of our latest developments and calendar hold-the-dates. Many thanks!

 

Robert Saarnio 
Museum Director