UA Little Rock Graduate Student Extends Technical Writing Internship After Summer Success
A UA Little Rock graduate student spent her summer interning with Siemens Healthineers, where her strong work ethic and technical writing skills impressed her team so much that the company has extended her internship beyond the summer.
Michelle Keithley, a native of Springfield, Missouri, earned her bachelor’s degree in professional and technical writing from UA Little Rock in December 2024 and is now pursuing her master’s degree in professional and technical writing. She expects to graduate in May 2026 and plans to pursue a career as a medical technical writer.
During her internship, Keithley worked remotely with Siemens Healthineers’ Molecular Imaging SPECT Customer Service team, which provides support for software application engineers and service technicians who set up and maintain imaging machines.
“I’m a technical writer intern, and I write documentation for users,” Keithley said. “I work closely with the team to develop documentation on workarounds, problems, procedures, and protocols. I’m not filing papers or making coffee. I am actually using the skills that I went to school for.”
Keithley initially joined Siemens Healthineers as part of the company’s competitive summer internship program, which included more than 150 interns from across the country. She said working alongside peers from top universities like Harvard, Yale, and UCLA was a rewarding challenge.
“I came across the company during my undergraduate studies while looking for technical writing roles,” she said. “When I saw they had an internship program, I thought I could do this. Seeing the list of interns from top schools from across the country, it felt like I had arrived.”
Over the course of the internship, Keithley gained valuable experience applying her technical writing and editing skills in a global corporate environment. She also learned the importance of collaboration with subject matter experts.
“I have definitely learned how a global corporation works,” she said. “This internship has given me confidence in my skill set and knowledge. Prior to me being on the team, they did not have a technical writer. They had engineers and other team members writing these protocols and procedures. While they are very smart people, writing is not their primary skill set. I think they appreciated my work ethic and skill set and found me to be a valuable part of the team, which is why they extended the internship.”
For Keithley, the experience has been both career-affirming and personally meaningful.
“If you would have asked me when I started school if I’d be working on a molecular imaging team, I’d have said you were crazy,” she said. “But this has been a great internship. I would recommend this company to anyone. It’s been an opportunity to use the skills I learned in my undergraduate education in real life, and that’s been gratifying.”
Keithley now continues her Siemens internship part-time while pursuing her graduate studies and working as a graduate assistant with UA Little Rock’s Online Writing Lab. She hopes the experience will open doors to a full-time technical writing role after graduation.
“I feel really blessed to have been given all the opportunities that I’ve been given,” she said.