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AGS Internship Program

Interns continue to play an important part in activities at the AGS. The many projects they carry out are not just important and necessary but of lasting value to the Society [Read full details of internship experiences below].

They are welcome at the AGS at any time of the year, part-time as well as full-time, for a minimum of ten weeks. Most assignments are for work in the AGS office in New York on Wall Street, but there are a few projects that could be carried out elsewhere.

Interns receive neither monetary compensation nor an expense allowance, but the Society provides them with recommendations for future employment and for graduate school.

How To Apply: Send a current resume to:

Mary Lynne Bird
The American Geographical Society
120 Wall Street, Suite 100
New York, NY 10005-3904
or call: 1-212-422-5456

email: AGS@amergeog.org

LET’S HEAR IT FOR INTERNS!
    Interns have been coming to the American Geographical Society since 1984 -- working hard, learning a lot, and teaching even more.
    Three young geographers and one “maybe” geographer have done internships at AGS at some time during the first part of 2003. Elizabeth Church (University College London) was with us for five months, beginning in January. Linda Donaldson (University of Toronto), Kouichi Komuro (Hunter College-City University of New York), and Jessica Murray (Middlebury College) did ten-week internships over the summer.
    Their “farewells” on these pages give some idea of what their experience as AGS interns meant to them but do not convey what their contributions have meant to the society. With its small staff, AGS could never do all it does without the valuable boost it receives at times from interns. Their help is well worth the time that staff members take to identify projects and to organize and supervise their work. In addition, the questions the interns ask challenge us and the topics that interest them instruct us.
    Interestingly, in recent years the majority of AGS interns have come from abroad: Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Canada, among others. Perhaps the international outreach of the Geographical Review explains that. Or maybe it is the globalizing effect of the web. Whatever the reason, interns at AGS wind up having a cross-cultural encounter when they are here as well as interacting with the AGS staff. In fact, this was the first year in a long time that only half of the interns came from outside the U.S. Applications for the coming semester and year suggest that future AGS interns will continue to be an internationally diverse group.
    We look forward to welcoming them here.
                 Mary Lynne Bird
                 Executive Director

LIZZY’S LEAVING!!!
    Last summer I graduated with Honors in Geography (BSc) from University College London. Like many of my contempories the thought of the ‘real world of work’ was not only daunting but quite frankly something to be put off! I have been very fortunate in the past to have had the opportunity to travel widely having lived abroad for much of my life and, in between my studies, traveled through Southern Africa and South America. The travel bug in me remains, however my sensible side told me that it was about time I began to focus on my career ahead of me. It was therefore time to compromise - work abroad.
    I came across the American Geographical Society internship program in a book regarding internships overseas. Having been passionate about geography all my life the chance to work for the AGS in New York was the perfect solution for my near future. I arrived in New York at the beginning of January and began my work with the AGS soon after.
    My time at the AGS has been extremely varied in terms of the size and type of projects that I have undertaken. From day one, I noted down a quick summary of my endeavors as I completed them. To my surprise and delight these notes last pages and pages and are evidence of what I have achieved through my time here. One of the larger projects that I took on was carrying out some research for the AGS travel program. Every trip that is organized has a set itinerary. My assignment was to go through these itineraries and subsequently find related websites that could be enjoyed by travelers before embarking on their trips of a lifetime. The websites not only had to be of some educational value, but also had to be respectable, eloquent and of course, of interest. This assignment was very interesting as not only did I learn an incredible amount of history, culture and politics of many different countries, but also it was fascinating to see what ‘site’, ‘place’ or ‘person’ got World Wide Web coverage. I am sure there could be a very interesting study into the geography of websites!
    Another large project that I took on was biographical research that was followed up by writing a detailed summary on the signers of the Fliers’ & Explorers’ Globe. The Globe is one of the AGS’s wonders. All 68 names signed on the globe can be recognized as some of the greatest explorers of all time, with the likes of Charles Lindbergh, Robert Peary and Neil Armstrong. Delving into the lives of these great men and women was an inspiration. It was also extremely satisfying to search for the contact addresses of some of the present day explorers who may in the future sign their names on the globe, thus doing my small bit for the globe’s future history.
    These two assignments were just a small fraction of the work that I carried out at the AGS. In fact I have named myself photocopying, fax machine and envelope stuffing queen! However I reveled in my work as a researcher as I am one for a good challenge. My research varied from searching for contact addresses for some 4000 names to ensure that our databases were up to date, finding relevant articles from the Geographical Review and FOCUS on Geography to meet with requests from other researchers in the field, to finding suitable information and photographs to go on the AGS conference display board. I have also had the satisfaction of getting to grips with the organizing of the onsite AGS library, proofreading the newsletter ‘Ubique’, attending lectures on a range of fascinating topics, and making suggestions toward a marketing strategy for the showing of the explorers globe. The list is endless.
    My stay with the AGS has been remarkably interesting and enjoyable, which is evident by the fact that I was due to be here for just 12 weeks but ended up staying for 5 months! I am also so grateful to the AGS as it has given me the opportunity to get to know New York properly. I have fallen head over heels in love with this fantastic city and will be very sad in returning to the UK and back to the ‘real world’! Who knows what may lie ahead in my future, but one thing is for sure, Geography will always be a key factor in it.
                 Elizabeth Church

LINDA MAKES A DECISION
    As a student entering my last semester of my undergraduate studies, I was particularly hesitant about how I would spend my last summer as a “student”. Being someone who has always had the urge to travel, and explore the world, my opportunities were looking grim. While writing an essay for an Urban Geography course I came across an article published in the Geographical Review. I was very intrigued by this publication and decided to investigate the website. While searching through the information I came across the ‘internships’ and thought I would apply. When I received confirmation from Mary Lynne that I had been offered a spot, I was extremely excited and, without reservation, accepted. Being from Toronto, I took this as an opportunity to enjoy a more extreme version of city life while gaining insight into how Geography can be put to use as a profession.
    Over the past ten weeks I have been given several tasks that I believe have provided me with skills that will be beneficial in the future. One of my tasks has been the construction of a database about all American post-secondary institutions that offer the discipline of Geography. Along with this I was asked to gather information in the form of websites for the AGS travel program to coincide with the itineraries, which are sent out to participants. Over the summer I have had the opportunity to read several issues of the Geographical Review and have found the information remarkable. My fellow interns Jessica and Kouichi, spent many the hours in the archives room rummaging through what I believe to be a wealth of Geographical knowledge, and were kind enough to enlighten me with their discoveries.
    My summer in New York has been fabulous. I have enjoyed spending time in such a great city and in particular working with some remarkable people. AGS has helped me, as a graduating senior, to reconfirm my beliefs that there is still a great need for Geographers in the world, and I believe now more than ever that this is my calling. I would like to thank Mary Lynne and the rest of the AGS staff for this remarkable opportunity.
                 Linda Donaldson

KOUICHI EMERGES FROM THE ARCHIVES
    Unlike past years, rather than a plain old summer job at a local restaurant while taking summer classes I wanted an internship that would enhance my academic ability. Luckily, I happened to be reading an article in the Geographical Review in the library when I saw that the AGS offices were located in downtown Manhattan. Through its website, I later found out that the AGS had internship positions available. Without hesitation I sent out my resume and cover letter to Mary Lynne as she later offered me an internship position.
    Currently, I am a Geography and Political Science major at Hunter College right here in New York City so it was natural that Mary Lynne asked me to make a visit to the AGS offices. Lizzy Church, the intern at the time showed me around the offices and explained what type of tasks interns had to carry out. From my short visit to the AGS offices, I definitely knew I wanted to work here for the summer.
    I must say I’ve learned a tremendous amount the last ten weeks I have worked here. From compiling an annotated bibliography on surface to air missiles to finding articles published in the Geographical Review, it was definitely a great learning experience. My most important project here was making an inventory of the treasured archives, dating back to 1851. It was a daunting task, as I had to go through tons of files with thousands of papers. Quite frankly, I was not sure how far I would go during my 2 ½ months. Much to the delight of Mary Lynne and Peter Lewis, the AGS archivist, I managed to finish roughly half the files in the archives room. While rummaging through the archives, I did come across some interesting materials. (See below for a few of my “finds.”) The notes I compiled through the inventory are currently being put into a database making it easier for everyone to find what they are looking for in the archives.
    I would like to thank everybody here at the AGS offices for making this a wonderful summer. My ‘love’ for Geography has only strengthened while at AGS and I will make it my personal goal to educate as many people as possible in the field of Geography. I cannot go another day without people asking me, “So as a Geography major, do you like working with maps?” They would definitely know the answer to the question if they worked at the AGS.
    It was also a pleasure to work with the other interns, Jessica and Linda. We had some delightful conversations during our breaks. On another note, if you just want to talk about the stories in the news, go to Steve [Steven Cusumano, AGS Comptroller], he’ll definitely entertain you with his insightful views.
                 Kouichi Komuro*

A Note from the Archives
    For the past ten weeks I have entrenched myself in the archives room here at the AGS offices. Even though it was a huge task, I must say I enjoyed the experience tremendously. The amount and quality of work that the AGS has done in its history was evident just from the sample I rummaged through. Here are some of the ‘goodies’ I found: Letters from former Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover to name a few. Reading a letter from Dr. David Livingstone while he was on his journey in Africa was definitely time well spent. The major projects the AGS participated in such as the Juneau Ice Field Research Project, expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic as well as other places were interesting to read. Even though I only was able to look through half of the files, my understanding of the AGS in the place of history in the world of geography has only increased. Whoever gets the chance to do what I did should jump on it immediately. It will only increase your interest in the field of Geography.
                 Kouichi Komuro*

JESSICA REFLECTS
    Unlike most past American Geographical Society interns, I am not in my last few years of college, nor have I declared Geography as my major-that is, yet. I have just completed my first year at Middlebury College in Vermont and out of all the courses I took, my Geography classes particularly fascinated me. I started to grapple with the idea of majoring in Geography or International Studies with a focus in Geography, but I just could not come to any conclusions. Throughout the spring I was therefore simultaneously trying to determine my major and engineer a worthwhile summer that would provide experience in a field that might give me some academic direction.
    Living in Westchester County, just outside of New York City, I virtually had the world at my fingertips in terms of internship opportunities. I found the AGS internship on a whim while searching the Internet and thought that it would be an ideal introduction to the field of Geography and its application beyond the classroom. I thus jumped at the opportunity when Mary Lynne kindly offered it to me.
     Working at AGS has surpassed my expectations. During my weeks at AGS I have had informative, enlightening conversations with the staff and have been exposed to geographical literature and events that have provided a sense of what happens in the geographical “real world”. Mary Lynne was always nice enough to share and expose me to new information and ideas. I was even surprised when I, myself, found an article about GIS in The Wall Street Journal written by the AGS president!
    Over the summer I have worked on various projects such as writing mid-sized biographies of the explorers that signed the Fliers and Explorers’ Globe-most notably Robert Peary and Neil Armstrong. I undertook many other tasks, preparing letters and mailings to new Geography PhDs, completing various research tasks on the Internet and creating an e-mail database of all AGS media contacts. I additionally edited and printed up-to-date copies of the American Geographical Society Information Booklet and helped my fellow intern, Kouichi, sift through the AGS archives and create records of the holdings.
    I am truly grateful for the wealth of information I have learned at AGS, which has undoubtedly underscored my plans to major in Geography. I want to thank everyone at AGS for giving me the opportunity to learn the practical uses of Geography and for making my summer so enjoyable. I have certainly developed a greater appreciation for Geography, which I hope to impart to others.
                 Jessica Murray

A VOLUNTEER EXTRAORDINAIRE
    For almost six months this year, The American Geographical Society was blessed with the services of a most unusual and valuable volunteer.
    Robert Mazzullo brought his Wall Street-level technical savvy to the AGS offices. While he was here, he upgraded, wired, converted, connected, virus-protected, repaired, and generally improved everything he touched. That included instructing the human beings making use of the technology.
    Bob has had a long and successful career as a technical support person in the financial services industry. In early January, the firm he had been with for many years cut 40% of its staff in response to hard times in the industry. Bob was swept up in the unlucky 40%. Rather than stewing at home on unemployment insurance while chasing the few jobs that were out there somewhere, Bob decided to use his free time to help someone and to learn something about a new sector of the economy and society. He turned up on our doorstep and took on technical support for only six work stations instead of the forty he was used to handling. In between applying his expertise to our needs, Bob read constantly, dipping into our library and scanning the periodicals regularly coming in. He became acquainted with GIS and got a taste of all that the discipline of geography encompasses.
    In Bob’s search for a job, through AGS he attended a number of events and meetings where he encountered not only geographers but other people working in various sectors he had not dealt with before.
    Happy ending: In September Bob found a job back in the financial services sector at a salary commensurate with his former position and far above anything similar in the non-profit world. In the process, he found that potential employers, including the one that finally hired him, were impressed with the fact that he had volunteered his services while job-hunting and that he had learned something about a different sector while doing it.
    Even happier ending: Bob says he found geography so fascinating that he would love to find a job that allowed him to explore the discipline and work in it.
    We think we have not heard the last of him.
                 Mary Lynne Bird
                 Executive Director

    2003:

Intern from Kazakhstan:
      Azhara Mukhamejanova writes "I am a senior at the Ohio State University majoring in Computer Information Science. Two years ago I came to Columbus, Ohio from Almaty, Kazakhstan with a decision to learn as much as possible about computers. Since my arrival to the United States of America, I have been studying hard yet succeeding learning about a new subject matter in a foreign language. In spite of many challenges, I decided that I did not want to miss any opportunity of furthering my knowledge about computers through a practical experience in the field. I began my search for an internship with optimism. For someone who is new to the field and to the country, I looked for any experience that I could receive. When I learned about getting an internship at the American Geographical Society, I was absolutely thrilled to receive such opportunity. Being passionate about traveling, I packed my bags to go for ten weeks to work in New York.
    I came to the American Geographical Society with knowledge of computers from academic textbooks and hardly any practical experience. Nevertheless, I was ready to utilize my skills and expand my knowledge. In the course of ten weeks, my internship responsibilities included, updating AGS database, improving and updating the list of travelers’ literature, preparing multiple letters for new Ph.D. subscribers, and improving functioning of some fax and copier machines. One of most interesting tasks concerned installation and updating of software and hardware of some of the AGS computers. Configuring it to work properly, troubleshooting, running special computer programs on daily basis (e.g., antivirus program), and taking computer specifications were also a part of my many duties. The most rewarding experience was to communicate with the office staff regarding some technical questions that they had for me.
    At the end of my ten-week experience working for the American Geographical Society, I was fortunate to gain a lot of practical experience related to computers in addition to a greater knowledge about the company. I have come to learn many people at the American Geographical Society, whose dedication and passion for their jobs has inspired me. Their collaboration and effort has created an excellent work environment. The overall experience of working for such respectful and honored organization is going to stay forever in my heart. Having spent the whole summer in New York city, where I met so many interesting and different people, and discovered many more interesting places, I evolved and grew as a person with a greater vision and understanding of not only computers, but also of life."

    2002:

Intern from England:
      Simon Harris writes "I have always been interested in Geography but unfortunately my experience of the subject has always been limited to within the confines of high school in England. Too often I find myself defending the value of Geography as a discipline. The American Geographical Society provided a wonderful opportunity to actually explore a practical application of Geography. The society kindly offered me an internship at their offices on Wall Street in the summer of 2002.
    I am grateful for everyone at the office providing me with interesting tasks that where also beneficial for myself. Whilst I was at the AGS I began to work on aspects of the membership database which in the process enabled me to become familiar with at least some of the important figures and institutions in the field of Geography. I am certain they will become increasingly useful as I continue to study the subject. At other times I was asked to undertake research. Often this involved working with old copies of the Geographical Review that proved to be fascinating. There is always a danger with any internship devolving into little more than the clichéd ‘filing and photocopying’. I am indebted to everyone at the AGS for making such an effort to provide such thoughtful tasks.
    Whilst not working, I managed to explore the downtown area around Wall Street and to make use of the phenomenal library situated at the AGS offices. It is an astonishing collection of geographical literature and I am sure what I did manage to sample will prove critical in my upcoming university interviews.
    I had a thoroughly enjoyable time with the AGS, not only in meeting interesting people from as far as Kazakhstan but also in finally getting an opportunity to delve into practical uses Geography."

    2002:

Intern from Kenya:
      Josef Oduwo, who is a Master of Science in Information Systems student at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, served as an intern at AGS from mid-October through mid-December in 2002. He applied his technical expertise to our computers, printers, postal equipment, network systems, and fax facilities. He also installed a new DSL line and spent many hours researching a wide variety of information sets on the web.
      In addition to a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in mathematics and physics, also from the University of Nairobi, Josef trained at Devdata Ltd, a subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. He worked for a year at the National Health Research and Development Centre in Kenya, as a System Administrator, and, most recently, spent a year as a web developer and System Administrator for a winery in Australia, while taking courses at the University of Melbourne.
      Fluent in Kiswahili as well as English, Josef fit nicely into the cosmopolitan pattern at the AGS office, following immediately after an intern from England and one from Kazakhstan. He also seems to have fit well into the larger American scene, having developed a fondness for pizza by the time he left.
      Josef’s congeniality and willingness to tackle every task sent his way were greatly appreciated and will long be remembered. We were fortunate to have him here and sorry to see him go.

    2001:

      Nicole Rapp from Berlin writes "This is my last week of a 10-week internship at the American Geographical Society in New York City. I was asked to write about my experiences as an intern at The American Geographical Society and mainly about the reasons I came here.
      Currently I'm a graduate student of Geography and North American Studies in Berlin, Germany, and this 10-week internship in the field of Geography is part of my studies. I was free to decide whether I wanted to do this internship in Germany or abroad, and I can say that the decision was very easy! As a student of Geography I'm not only interested in traveling but also in getting to know different cultures and I believe that the only way to really get to know and understand foreign cultures is to be in that country for longer than just a 2-week vacation.
      The reason I chose New York City is definitely my love of this city. Being an Au-pair in Morristown, New Jersey, and coming back to New York City several times as a "tourist" was a good way to get to know the area and the people that live here, but I realized that if I actually want to understand the American culture, maybe I should say the New York culture, I have to be part of the working world. Another reason I chose New York City is my Master's thesis which is about "the Disneyfication of Times Square." Even though I've been to New York several times before I thought being on the spot while doing research and writing my thesis would give me the possibility to keep track of what's going on in the Times Square area.
      Early this year I started looking for internships in the US. I surfed all kinds of websites that offered information about internships abroad and I was forced to realize that working as an European intern in the US would mean a lot of sacrifices: not many companies want to assist in the process of getting a working visa, the internships are usually unpaid, and it is very hard to find an affordable and decent place to stay in New York City. But when I found the notice from the American Geographical Society, I was interested right away, and I knew all these sacrifices would be worth the outcome!
      I started this internship on August 7, 2001, and while being at The American Geographical Society I tackled a wide variety of assignments: web research on different topics, updating the mailing and press lists, updating the travel database, researching and preparing hundreds of letters, invitations and special mailings to all new PHD's, and New York area applied geographers, and writing several press releases on articles in the Geographical Review.
      I will graduate from the Humboldt and Free Universities of Berlin, Germany in Spring 2002, with a M.A. in Geography and North American Studies. And I can honestly say that being an intern at The American Geographical Society in New York City was a very good experience and reinforced my decision to become a geographer. To be working downtown on September 11, 2001, when the suicide attack on the World Trade Center took place was a horrible and scary experience but also a very helpful one, because I was once again "on the spot" to keep track of what was going on. It made me understand the American culture even better.

2000:

Over the past fifteen years, the Society has had some forty interns, but the first to come from abroad was Neil Smith, from Hertfordshire, England. Neil is an honors graduate in geography from the University of Sheffield. In his application for the internship, Neil wrote that he wanted to learn how "theoretical geography" can be applied to the commercial and governmental environments. So, at the AGS, Neil took particular interest in the Society's involvement with people and institutions in the business and governmental communities, and he met and spoke with several AGS Councilors and Fellows from those sectors. In his internship, Neil tackled research of several kinds: archival, web, interpersonal, and print. He undertook writing assignments, updated databases, compiled and organized data for special campaigns, and raised the never-high-enough computer literacy of the AGS staff by several notches. Neil has returned to Welwyn Garden City in the United Kingdom, but he has left his mark here. His unflappable adaptability, competence, and enterprise created a mantra at AGS. When a big new project is proposed, the staff is apt to say, "It's possible---IF we get another Neil." Let's hope we do.

1998:

Darren Roth was a full-time intern at the American Geographical Society.

A list of the projects Darren carried out not only indicates his industry and competence but suggests the range of experiences that AGS interns can expect.

...updated and augmented the master list of travel literature, compiled from reviews in Ubique and the Travel Program reading lists and used to prepare customized reading lists for AGS Fellows

...researched and compliled a list of more than 200 local financial companies to appoach for funding of office exhibit

...composed an appeal letter, generated it, and sent it to the above

...compiled new press lists (from Internet sources in particular) and updated existing ones

...sent out press releases about Geographical Review and Focus articles and June awards.

...compiled address list of 187 new geography Ph.D.s and generated letters to them with a special offer on introductory subscriptions to Geographical Review

...entered one-and-a-half year's worth of contribution information into database

...compiled information on 560 applied geographers in greater New York and entered it into database

...prepared inventories on several large collections of AGS publications

...updated the AGS's internet software and augmented it with user tips

...researched corporations and foundations that might fund several specific AGS projects

...compiled list of potential advertisers to be carried in the upcoming Geographical Services Directory in Focus

...researched price list of advertising rates for such notices in other magazines

1997:

Shari Binder, senior at Hofstra University, with a double major in Environmental Studies and Environmental Geography

Sydney Brown, junior in sociology and anthropology at the University of Chicago

Victoria R. Gellis, senior in political science and French at Emory University

David Thomas Wrubel, graduate student in geography at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte

With flexibility and multiple skills, Shari, Sydney, Victoria, and David worked on several tasks. Shari took particular responsibility, however, for researching the archives and organizing materials and artifacts for a permanent exhibit in the society's new office. Sydney, Vicki, and Dave organized the staff library, which was in chaotic state after the Society's move at the end of December '96. The three of them also researched and processed special endowment appeals to all living Focus and Geographical Review authors.

Dave, in addition, pursued new voluntees for the Society's volunteer business teaching program and visited independent bookstores to try to place Around the World books. He also updated press lists and wrote press releases about articles in recent issues of Focus and the Geographical Review, a task he has offered to continue to fulfill in the coming academic year.

Sydney also keyed into our database several years' worth of contribution records.

1995:

Stephanie Patafio, junior at Boston College, and Sylvia Kwong, senior at the State University of New York in Buffalo, worked at AGS on numerous projects. One of Stephanie's assignments involved ethnic demographic research related to marketing the "Around the World Program". Among Sylvia's assignments was identification of Japanese investors and companies with significant stake in specific U.S. communities or regions.

1994:

Deborah Pasquariellio, a senior geography major at Villanova University, started the job of recruiting volunteers to participate in AGS's business geography teaching program. She also began demographic and ethnic research connected with the Around the World Program.

Philippe Ponasse, a 1992 geography graduate from Rutgers University, picked up on those projects when he began interning at AGS and expanded upon them significantly.

Darcey Ann Olsen, who was completing a master's degree in international education at New York University, helped several members of the AGS staff expand their computer competency. She also helped generate the considerably larger number of grant applicant being filed.