The Nebraska Publishing Apprenticeship: A Career Pathway Program
Support future publishers. Your gift funds a paid apprenticeship at the University of Nebraska Press, providing real-world experience, mentorship and career-building opportunities for students.
About the Campaign 📖
The Nebraska Publishing Apprenticeship is designed as a paid cohort experience for eight students at the University of Nebraska Press. Funding will sponsor one apprentice for two consecutive semesters, giving that student hands-on experience with real book and journal projects in editing, design, production, marketing, project coordination and scholarly communication. The apprentice will build a portfolio, receive professional mentorship and develop transferable career skills, with eligibility for a Denver Publishing Institute capstone pathway. Additional gifts will help extend this unique experiential learning opportunity to more students.
How does this impact students?
Big Red Boost funding would support one student apprentice for two consecutive semesters at the University of Nebraska Press, providing paid, hands-on experience in a professional publishing environment. The apprentice would contribute to real book and journal projects while receiving mentorship in editing, design, production, marketing, project coordination and scholarly communication. By removing a financial barrier to career-building work, this support would help the student build a professional portfolio, develop transferable skills and gain confidence moving from classroom learning to career readiness.
Why should you support this project?
The Nebraska Publishing Apprenticeship gives donors a direct way to support student opportunity, workforce readiness, and the future of the humanities. Many students cannot afford unpaid or underpaid internships, even when those experiences are essential to securing a first professional job. By funding a paid apprenticeship, donors help remove that barrier and give a student a meaningful experience in a real publishing environment.
The project is also distinctive. The University of Nebraska Press offers the only publishing-focused experiential learning opportunity of its kind at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and likely one of very few in Nebraska. Apprentices do not simply observe professional work; they contribute to live book and journal projects, learn from experienced staff and build transferable skills in writing, editing, design, marketing, project management, communication and collaboration.
For donors, the impact is immediate and long-term: Their support helps one student now, strengthens a new educational pathway at UNL, benefits the press’s publishing work and helps prepare future professionals who may go on to work in publishing, education, communications, nonprofits, policy or related fields.