RISE Internship: Curatorial Assistant at Mission Garden
Position Title: Curatorial Assistant
Reports to: Dena Cowan
Hours/Week: 5 hours/week
Internship Date Range: September 2025 to May 2026
Location: 946 West Mission Lane, Tucson Arizona 85745
About the Resilience Internships and Student Experiences (RISE) Program:
The RISE Program is hosted by the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR) and provides undergraduate and graduate students with paid internships related to resilient environments and societies. RISE internships give students experience in workplace settings with an opportunity to grow their core skills and prepare them for careers after graduation.
About Mission Garden:
Mission Garden is an agricultural heritage museum located on a historic and archaeologically significant site and operated by Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace. Mission Garden inspires people to connect to this land by reclaiming agricultural traditions for our community in a changing world. Mission Garden envisions a world where diverse communities collaborate to grow abundant food sustainably.
Mission Garden is free and open to the public, providing free educational and experiential opportunities for all, with special emphasis on serving the members of the communities whose agricultural heritage and foodways we are celebrating: O’odham, Yoeme, African American, Chinese, Mexican and Spanish.
Internship summary:
This Curatorial intern will be a Seed Collections Specialist working under the guidance and supervision of the Curator of Collections to maintain the seed collection and seed collection records.
Internship description:
Responsibilities include assisting in:
Maintaining and entering information related to the seed collection in online excel database
Helping to organize seed collection
Attending weekly “seed saving social” (volunteer seed processing gathering)—if schedule permits
The intern will learn about local farming heritage, cultural, agricultural and ethnobotanical traditions, and especially how to select, document, harvest, process, label and preserve heirloom and landrace seeds for future generations.
Compensation:
The intern will be hired and paid by the University of Arizona. The pay rate is $19/hour.
Credit Requirements:
The intern will be hired as a U of A student employee.
- For internships during the academic year: applicants must be active U of A students enrolled in at least 6 credits.
Allowable Work Hours:
- During the semester, student employees are limited to 25 hours/week (20 hours/week for international students) across ALL U of A positions.
- During the summer, student employees are limited to 35 hours/week across ALL U of A positions.
International Students:
International students should consult with International Student Services (ISS) if work authorization is needed before securing an internship. ISS advising information can be found here.
How to Apply:
Applicants must be active U of A students.
Interested applicants should email Dena Cowan (dena@missiongarden.org) with brief resumes or brief descriptions of their interests and skills.
Applications must be submitted no later than Wednesday, September 17, 2025.