HF7: Humanities Beyond the Academy

Collaborative Goals

Humanities PhDs continue to face a bleak academic job market, and many find the idea of applying their humanistic training in non-academic settings appealing. However, they may lack awareness of available employment sectors, what specific careers would be most rewarding for them, or how they can gain skills and experience necessary for those roles while still in graduate school.

The working group organizes six (generally online) events annually—one hosted by each of the PhD-granting Corridor institutions per semester. These may be talks by nationally recognized advocates of doctoral education reform and/or career diversity for humanities PhDs; workshops by graduate career development professionals or consultants with relevant expertise; or career panels featuring PhD-holders in various non-academic positions (including alums of the Corridor institutions).

The working group serves to:

1. educate humanities PhD students about non-faculty career pathways, as well as how they can mobilize existing skills and acquire new ones as those pathways require;
2. build a community of interest among Corridor students, staff, and faculty around PhD career exploration and preparation, and facilitate sharing of practices, resources, ideas, and opportunities;
3. create a community of practice among administrators at Corridor institutions whose roles encompass career exploration and preparation for humanities PhDs;
4. provide a venue to keep PhD alums in careers outside tenure-track academia connected to their universities, and to connect current students with PhD-holders whose work speaks to their interests and concerns.