The Institute for the Humanities has compiled a comprehensive list of campus resources covering a broad range of professional development concerns. Visit the site to learn about workshops, writing groups, digital humanities training, and many other resources that can help you forge a successful career path.
Category: Pre-Candidacy
Blog Series: Why Wait? Early Explorations of Career Paths for Humanities PhDs
The University of California Humanities Research Institute’s Humanists @ Work initiative recently featured a series of blog posts called Why Wait? Early Explorations of Career Paths for Humanities PhDs. The posts imagine the process of career exploration as an integral part of doctoral training that graduate students most often have to initiate themselves. The author provides…
Rackham Professional Development Grants
Available for graduate students at all levels and on a rolling application basis, Rackham Professional Development Grants are intended to support Rackham doctoral students seeking careers both within and outside academia. This funding is to support short-term experiences that promote the development of professional skills which will further a student’s career goals. These grants can support skills…
How to Make the Most of Brief Career Immersions
U of M’s Dr. Laura Schram has been guiding graduate students through internships and career “immersives” for several years. In her latest Inside Higher Ed essay, Dr. Schram shares some best practices for students planning to engage in brief immersive experiences. Her advice can help students make these experiences as useful as possible for their…
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.
Why Career Self-Assessments Matter
This piece features a number of helpful tools for self-assessment, which can be an important step in your career development path. These tools can help you determine areas where you excel and thrive, which in turn can lead you to career paths that suit your interests, strengths, and personality.
Alt-Ac or Bust
Written by Emily Mace—who has a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University and is the Chicago Digital Humanities Coordinator at Lake Forest College—this article gives helpful advice on how graduate students can start preparing for diverse careers from the start of their doctoral programs.
What Can You Do with a PhD?
This article discusses the experiences of some recent Mellon/ACLS Fellows, whose 2-year positions in government and non-profits help them gain valuable skills for professional development. Through the Mellon/ACLS program, the foundation seeks to highlight the contributions that humanities PhDs can make beyond the academy.
Rackham Mellon Public Humanities Immersive Program
Mellon Immersive Experiences offer U of M humanities doctoral students one to several days to learn more about the workplaces, projects, research, and other opportunities involved in a specific career context. Students may identify an immersive site of their own choosing, or select from a list of organizations willing to host.
How to Plan for a Career Before You Have One
This article gives advice on planning for a career path you may not be able to anticipate while you are in graduate school. The author gives tips for smart strategies to pursue while you are still in school which can pay off when it’s time to go on the job market.