Hourly Pooled - Summer Student Research Assistantship in Regional Economic History
About The Position
Dr. Grete Gansauer is recruiting a student research assistant for a summer appointment supporting the “Rural Pasts, Rural Futures” project investigating the economic history of the rural Eastern Wyoming region. The position is designed for a student interested in qualitative research methods, regional development and change, economic history, public policy, rural communities, archival methods, and interviewing. This position offers excellent preparation for students preparing for graduate study or future work involving qualitative research, public policy, community development or historical analysis. The research assistant will contribute primarily to archival data collection and organization, helping to construct a historical dataset that traces how industrial and institutional change, infrastructure development and public service provision shape uneven regional development over time, from colonial settlement to today. The research assistant will also assist with interviews to understand how community leaders envision future regional development and economic pathways. The position offers hands-on training in qualitative research methods, archival analysis, historical interpretation and narrative development, with opportunities to contribute to broader discussions about rural community sustainability and regional inequalities.
Requirements
- Ability to work independently. This position will mostly take place through remote work (office access in Laramie on the UWyo Campus provided). Candidate must be a trustworthy, self-starter who can carry out tasks without supervision.
- Strong attention to detail
- Interest in qualitative research, interpretation, narrative development. This position would be ideal for candidates majoring or interested in journalism, history, community development, geography, anthropology, sociology, policy analysis, public administration, or related social science fields.
- Ability to read critically and identify relevant themes across historical documents.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to maintain accurate records
- Strong written communication skills
Nice To Haves
- Previous experience with qualitative research design, methods and analysis
- Familiarity with document/archival review research, coding, document analysis
- Interest in Wyoming history, rural communities and/or public policy
Responsibilities
- Conduct archival review of digital local newspaper records from the 1880s – present
- Assemble archival database of County and Municipal public meeting minutes, resolutions by locating, collecting, organizing and cataloguing records.
- Condense newspaper and public records datasets into a long-list of relevant sources for the research questions of the project, to build a timeline of major industrial events and institutional change in the region.
- Extract and summarize archival material relevant to project research questions (regional industrial, institutional and infrastructural history) using internal memoing and detailed notetaking of timeline of events and trends
- Identify key external policy or market shifts which influenced change or development of the region
- Support qualitative and thematic coding of the archived materials
- With the PI, conduct at least one field work trip to eastern Wyoming to assist in interviewing community leaders.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Part-time
Career Level
Intern
Education Level
No Education Listed
