Preparing Humanities PhDs for Academic and Professional Success

Abstract

Recent efforts within academia increasingly focus on developing programs to transform professional development and career planning within humanities Ph.D. programs. Scholarly associations such as the American Historical Association (AHA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) took initiatives to help students build skill-sets that meet the demands of various job markets not traditionally associated with humanities PhDs. The 2013 AHA report, The Many Careers of History PhDs: A Study of the Job Outcomes, Spring 2013, stated that history PhDs worked in wide range of professions including law firms, government offices, publishing houses, libraries, etc. [https://www.historians.org/jobs-and-professional-development/career-diversity-for-historians/career-diversity-resources/the-many-careers-of-history-phds]. Granting institutions have likewise committed resources to transforming graduate education and making the Ph.D. more versatile with the “Mellon Humanities PhD Interventions Project” [http://news.emory.edu/stories/2017/02/er_mellon_humanities_phd_grant/campus.html]. Besides this new project, the Laney Graduate School funds the long-standing Woodruff Library Fellowship program. This program helps PhDs gain practical work experience related to their areas of interest and subject expertise within the Woodruff Library, Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, and Rose Library. Often subject librarians and, in general, the libraries, are overlooked as potential partners in this crucial conversation. This panel explores how the fellowship program and a pilot initiative by two history subject librarians support graduate students on the job market. The fellowship program helped advanced graduate students gain a wide variety of skills suitable for non-traditional job markets. With the launching of the new initiative in January 2017, the history librarians worked closely with graduate students helping them in diversifying their skill-sets to succeed academically as well as professionally. Their outreach efforts included conducting professionalization workshops, meeting individually with graduate students to brainstorm potential career opportunities, setting up mock interviews, and providing meaningful feedback on their professional portfolios. The end goal of this pilot initiative is to help the Ph.D. candidates apply their subject expertise and research skills in both traditional and non-traditional career settings. In the process, students identify and develop new skills that make them more competitive in the current job market. Part of this presentation will also focus on the experiences of Emory history PhDs who have benefited from the Woodruff Library Fellowship program and the pilot initiative led by Emory University’s history librarians. They will chronicle their work with librarians and archivists, the skills that they acquired through these partnerships, and the practical aspects of preparing for non-traditional careers. They will also look back on the totality of their graduate studies and identify circumstances during coursework, teaching, and dissertation writing that either expanded or narrowed their perception of career possibilities. As librarians become more involved in the professionalization of humanities PhDs, these will be ideal moments for intervention. After the panel presentation, attendees will be able to: Identify similar outreach opportunities on their campus Brainstorm practical ways for creating meaningful partnerships with university administrators, faculty, and graduate students Initiate new programs for supporting efforts to diversify professional opportunities for humanities PhDs