Publication Date

August 16, 2016

Perspectives Section

Perspectives Daily

As part of the Career Diversity for Historians initiative, the AHA is producing and making available short videos of historians working in unusual places talking about what they do. The newest video features Stephanie Young, policy analyst at RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank with offices in California and Washington, DC.

Few historians imagine that their research skills would prepare them to spend three months in Afghanistan doing research and supporting the staff of the US military forces. Indeed, it’s a work environment far from a traditional archive. Stephanie Young, however, has found her training in history to be integral to taking on the challenges of working in all sorts of settings and locales. Working at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, has also made her realize that “working with large volumes of information and pulling out a narrative is not something everyone is trained to do but historians really are.”

Stephanie got her start at RAND in a summer associate intern program aimed specifically at graduate students. The next round of applications will open in the fall and are due in January 2017. Check this website for updates.

Check out more What I Do videos and additional Career Diversity for Historians resources here.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.

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