Grants open doors to learning: Mellon Foundation’s $2.5M grant aids humanities students
For students drawn to history, philosophy, languages, culture and fine arts, finding meaningful paid work connected to their studies has not always been easy. That challenge — shared quietly across departments for years — helped pave the way for a new initiative at Wichita State. In spring 2026, a $2.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation launched Wichita HIREs: Humanities Internships Reward Employers, a program designed to expand paid internships for students pursuing degrees in the humanities. To sustain Wichita HIREs well into the future, the grant carries a $1 million matching requirement to establish a long-term endowment.
Wichita HIREs will create approximately 300 paid internships for humanities students over the next five years. While Wichita State students collectively hold more than 12,000 paid positions each year, humanities students historically occupy only 0.5% of those roles. This discrepancy has less to do with students’ abilities and more to do with access. The new program opens doors for humanities students by addressing gaps in access to paid work experience.
Internships will be developed through partnerships with local nonprofits, government agencies and mission driven businesses rooted in social justice, community engagement and cultural enrichment. Those organizations align naturally with the interests and strengths of humanities students. Participants will concurrently enroll in faculty-led courses, ensuring their internships are grounded in academic study. “Wichita HIREs expands paid applied learning by intentionally creating opportunities for humanities students,” says Sara Muzzy, director of applied learning for the Shocker Career Accelerator. “By combining paid internships with faculty involvement and employer engagement, the program creates a more structured and scalable approach to humanities internships than what previously existed.”
A central goal of the Mellon Foundation grant is longevity. Once fully matched, the endowment created for Wichita HIREs will support internships for humanities students for many years to come. For students who once wondered how their passion for the humanities could translate into professional experience, Wichita HIREs opens doors to the answer — and a paycheck.
By Sarah Carswell ’22/22
