About Working Stories

Working Stories features interviews about work conducted by students in the Chicago Field Studies internship program at Northwestern University. Inspired by Studs Terkel and more, the project gets students interviewing people about their work, thinking deeply about the themes and issues that emerge from their interviews, and practicing technical recording and editing skills as they create edited audio pieces from the interviews. Through this process, students consider what work might mean to other people and to themselves. Along the way, they contribute to a growing archive of voices and reflections on work and the issues surrounding it in various fields.

A project of Nina Wieda and Liz McCabe, Working Stories has been launched with the generous support of a Digital Learning Fellowship from The Office of the Provost of Northwestern University. Final audio polishing, site design, and site construction is the work of Caroline Spikner.

About Chicago Field Studies

The internship program of Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences at Northwestern, Chicago Field Studies (CFS) helps students from across the university secure quarter-long competitive internships and offers unique experiential learning courses that students take while interning. Course concentrations include Business, Legal, Public Health, Civic Engagement, Social Justice, and Environment & Sustainability, as well as the broader Modern Workplace, Humanities, and Analysis of Field Experience courses.  CFS combines a class and internship experience to bring academic context to the professional world, expanding learning beyond the classroom and enabling students to pursue both academic and career aspirations.