Professional Identity – Page 2 – The Humanities PhD Project

Composing Your Career: From the “What” to the “How”

This is a follow-up post by Meg Ahern, who recently began a new position as a learning specialist at USAID LEARN. Dr. Ahern completed her joint PhD in Women’s Studies & English at U of M in 2012. I’ll start with a confession. In my previous post, I wrote about how useful an academic doctorate can be in other fields, as I’ve found in my own career in international development, and I ended with some advice about focusing on the kind of role you’d be happiest in day to day. That advice […]

Career Linguist

Career Linguist is a blog showcasing professions that linguistics PhDs pursue beyond the tenure track. It tracks the professional journeys of people in fields as diverse as consulting, language advocacy, and social media marketing. The blog also includes helpful advice on career transitions and lists current job postings, both of which may be of interest to humanities PhDs in fields other than linguistics.

Reimagining the Possibilities: Mellon Mini-Course on Health and Humanities

By Jallicia Jolly, PhD Candidate in American Culture Purposeful intellectual work meets publicly engaged humanities in “Health and Humanities” taught by Professor Alexandra Stern. The week-long intensive workshop in critical methods and social engagement invited graduate students to explore how we can use tools from the humanities and qualitative social science to mobilize our work. Importantly, the workshop asked: how does health humanities fit into your life? As I expected, health humanities fits in everywhere! I walked away out of “Health and Humanities” workshop feeling wildly inspired. Before the workshop, […]

On Mentoring First Generation and Graduate Students of Color

This article from the MLA’s Committee on the Literatures of People of Color in the United States and Canada (CLPC) draws on extensive research to offer targeted advice on mentoring first generation PhD students and graduate students of color. In addition to covering issues like producing scholarship, professional development, and the job market, it includes an extensive bibliography on mentoring for those who want to pursue further reading.

Required Graduate Seminar Incorporates Professional Development

Professor Bruce Hayes (Department of French, University of Kansas) has developed a required seminar called Intro to Grad Studies for graduate students in French, Slavic and German. The course combines an introduction to literary theory and criticism with technology training, conference paper preparation, and discussions about the academic job market. Download the syllabus for the course which is required for graduate students across three language departments. Additionally, you can read an article from The French Review that provides an extensive discussion of the challenges faced and the developments in the course over several […]

The Future of the Humanities PhD

This article discusses several well-known problems facing PhD programs in the humanities, including high attrition rates, long time to degree, and an unbelievably competitive job market. The authors propose radically altering doctoral education to meet the challenges of a changing world and to bring PhD training into the 21st century.

Humanists in Government

Humanists are using their doctoral training behind the scenes in a variety of U.S. government positions. Their ability to process new information quickly and efficiently and to convey key issues to policymakers in clear and concise language makes them valuable contributors to politics. Humanists in government emphasize that it often takes time and perseverance to convince employers that you have the skills they seek, but they say the rewards are worth the effort. Through the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows Program, Literature PhD Laurel Seely Voloder began a position in the Office of International Religious […]

Phil Skills: Stories of Philosophers Who’ve Forged Non-Academic Careers

Phil Skills is a new website put together by two Philosophy PhDs from U of M, which features interviews with philosophers working in fields as broad as academic publishing, immigration law, management consulting, and national defense. They offer advice based on their own experiences navigating the job search and discuss how they use their academic training in their jobs.

On the Usefulness of Graduate Student Internships

A history PhD student at the University of Mexico writes about her skepticism when she first learned about internships for graduate students offered through the American Historical Association’s Career Diversity Initiative. When she realized the potential benefits of connecting with historically-minded people and institutions, using historical expertise to enhance public dialogue and cultural preservation, and adding skills to her CV, her attitude shifted.

Syllabus: The Many Professions of History

This syllabus by Professor Stephen Aron at UCLA is an example of “a professional development seminar with a practicum component.” In addition to exploring in depth the many professions that historians pursue, the course has a substantial collaborative component, requiring students to engage with digital tools and develop research skills that apply to a broad range of history-related jobs.