The Monarch Humanities Internship Academy (MHIA)
Where Passion Meets Profession
Unlock your potential with the Monarch Humanities Internship Academy (MHIA). Created with grant funds from the Mellon Foundation and located in 1007 Webb Center, we bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world career success. We partner with nonprofit employers and government agencies, provide expert academic and career coaching, and launch your professional journey by matching you with high-quality, PAID internships.
Our Vision Statement
The Monarch Humanities Internship Academy (MHIA) offers humanities students the opportunity to connect their skills, talents, and knowledge as humanists to meaningful work-based learning experiences (WBLE).
Humanities students face more barriers than students in other majors in their efforts to seek and complete internships and other work-based learning experiences. Supported by Mellon Foundation funding, the Monarch Internship Academy for the Humanities (MIAH) provides pathways, resources, and stipends to overcome these barriers and expand work-based learning opportunities for humanities students.
Internships help students bridge classroom learning with practical work activities, network with industry professionals, gain professional development skills, and enter meaningful careers after graduation. The Mellon Foundation stipends provided by MHIA also contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by offsetting financial barriers and ensuring that all students have equal access to valuable internship experiences.
MHIA Intern Testimonial
My three internship experiences as an ODU student have prepared me in ways I did not expect. As a history major, my internships have consisted of archival work, historical research, and curation, and the multitude of skills I have gained throughout these experiences have undoubtedly prepared me for my future career goals of pursuing an MLIS degree at ODU and hopefully working in a university’s Special Collections department.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I have always had a lingering sense of uncertainty or doubt regarding my future goals and what to expect after graduation, but my internship experiences have allowed me to discover an unexpected career path that has provided a sense of clarity ever since. I believe the most rewarding aspect of these four years has been my transition from uncertainty and doubt to preparedness and clarity throughout my internships and overall academic journey at ODU.
Aleecia Utley
a year after they graduate in the US.
feel they receive guidance and support on education-to-career pathways in Virginia.
majoring in humanities completed internships at ODU between 2014-2022.
A Special Thanks to
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About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
Learn more at mellon.org.