Katie Henry lands dream job while still enrolled in UNK’s online History M.A. program

When Katie Henry, a current University of Nebraska at Kearney online History M.A. student, began her program at UNK, her professors continuously strived to help each student find meaningful careers. Luckily for Henry, hers came before she even graduated from her program. 
 
“I really love it,” Henry said about landing her dream job as the Assistant Curator at the City of Greeley Museums in Colorado.  
 
“I just really love working in education and interpretation,” Henry explained. “I do a lot of work with the schools in the district, with planning interpretive programs, with volunteer interpretation, and a lot of event planning. Everything I learned in the program I have put to use already in this position, whether it’s how to interpret difficult histories or how to write grant proposals. It absolutely has fit together very well.”  
 
Henry was a history major during her undergraduate career at Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. An internship, required as a part of her program of study, at Dakota County Historical Society turned into her first history focused position as a museum tour guide. This experience helped her passion for public history to flourish. 
 
“I really fell in love with just how public it was,” Henry said. “It was a place where it wasn't just about history, it was about the community. It was a place where the community could come and there were theater shows and holiday celebrations, and I just really liked how intersectional it was. I learned how valuable public history is to communities, and I really felt like I could both contribute a lot and learn a lot.” 

Her time at the Dakota County Historical Society and her growing passion for public history is what landed her at UNK.  
 
“I knew that I was going to have to work full time while I was pursuing this degree and having that flexibility to be able to work full time and also get this degree made it so much more affordable,” Henry explained. “It also had a really good reputation as a public history program, and I had a lot of shared interest with the professors.” 
 
UNK is starting a new Public History M.A. program in Fall 2023, which will also be available fully online.  
 
The online aspect of the program admittedly made Henry a little nervous at first.  
 
“As much as I love the flexibility of an entirely online course, I was a little bit wary of it at the beginning,” Henry admitted. “The professors are very communicative. I can tell that they put a lot of work into the online courses to keep them on par with the in-person courses.”  
 
UNK has offered an online master’s program in history for almost 20 years, meaning history faculty have extensive experience teaching in an online format. UNK was also recently ranked a top school for online master’s in history for 2023 by OnlineMastersDegrees.org.  
 
“I don't feel like I'm missing out not being there in person,” Henry said. “I feel like I have the same support and the same opportunities and I'm getting the same value of education as folks who are doing it in-person.”