By Michael Pascual, Doctoral Student, American Culture I have been in school for as long as I can remember. Except for one small break during my undergrad, I have been enrolled in every semester and quarter and class since I entered into preschool in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. I’m qualified to call myself a…
Category: Featured
American Historical Association’s Career Diversity Faculty Resources
The American Historical Association has identified five core skills of historical training – communication, collaboration, quantitative literacy, intellectual self-confidence, and digital literacy. Resources on the AHA’s career diversity resources for faculty page offer examples of class activities and projects that faculty could consider incorporating into existing syllabi or as inspiration for an new course or…
From Angst to Advocacy: My Summer with the Michigan Humanities Council
By Emelia Abbe, Doctoral Student, English Language and Literature I’ve never been sold on the idea of a strictly academic career path. As a student in the humanities, I’ve constantly wrestled with how to make sense of the greater effects of my discipline on audiences outside of the university. The circular concept of researching to…
Humanities Careers for PhDs in the Humanities and Social Sciences
. Columbia University’s Center for Career Education has a page describing a range of humanities careers for PhDs. In addition to lists of some of the most popular fields for PhDs pursuing humanities careers – i.e. higher education administration, non-profits, and government opportunities – for each field there are several suggested resources for further research.
Promising Practices in Humanities PhD Professional Development
This report presents findings from the 2016-2017 Next Generation Humanities PhD Consortium that is useful for faculty and administrators interested in professional development. Funded by the NEH and facilitated by the Council of Graduate Schools, the document outlines lessons learned, suggests some practices encouraging career diversity, and includes some ideas about how to go forward…
An Advisor’s Advice
By Matthew Woodbury Trevor Kilgore is an Academic Advisor and Coordinator for Department Advising at the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He received his PhD in History from the University of Michigan in April 2018. The University of Michigan offers a dizzying array of academic programs across more than a…
How to Mentor Graduate Students for Non-traditional Jobs: Advice from the Career Center
By Matthew Woodbury Dr. Clarence Anthony, a career coach at the University of Michigan Career Center, has a wealth of experience working with humanities doctoral students who are considering and pursuing non-traditional employment. As experts in their disciplines, Michigan faculty have a good grasp of how to prepare graduate students for roles in the academy.…
Where the Grass is Greener
This article from Inside Higher Ed considers a study of over 5,000 humanities and social science PhD recipients. It focuses on relatively career happiness in academia and non-traditional roles, the impact of parenthood on a career trajectory, and the “relatively large numbers of Ph.D.s who started out in nonacademic jobs and then segued into tenure-track…
Epiphany at the Altar
By Matthew Woodbury Dr. Lehti Keelmann received her PhD in the History of Art in 2016. She is the Assistant Curator of Western Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Walking past formal 18th-century portraits, intricate Tiffany lamps, and an exhibit of stunning fashion photographs, it’s easy to see why Dr. Lehti Keelmann finds…
“May the shadow of the moon fall on a world at peace”: Working at the Arab American National Museum
By Mika Kennedy, Doctoral Candidate in English Language and Literature At time of writing [August 2017], I’m in rural Nebraska. I left the Interstate many miles ago, and the towns here follow the rail line. They are punctuated clusters of buildings and gas marts, and billboards celebrating Sinclair Oil. There’s going to be a total solar…