praxis Graduate Programming

professionalization with purpose

 

In the face of the hiring contraction in the humanities, it’s hard to find a departmental director of graduate studies or a divisional dean of graduate education who doesn’t list preparing humanist doctoral students for non-faculty careers as a priority. Unfortunately, effective programming to meet that need is even harder to find. Directors of graduate studies, humanities centers, and new initiatives in graduate career training and support consistently report a disconnect between doctoral students in the humanities and alternative professionalization programming.

My programming for graduate professionalization beyond the tenure track speaks the language of the humanities, and it values humanist methods and the knowledge they produce. It proceeds from the premise that humanist work can be meaningfully operationalized in the public sphere, and that doing so effectively serves both the public good and the career outcomes of humanities Ph.D.s.

Instead of the usual advice about networking and transferrable skills, my programs prioritize the development of institutional understanding, specific skills, and concrete deliverables. They reduce the paralytic panic graduate students can experience as they approach the tumultuous job market and provide meaningful forward movement for humanist graduate students exploring non-academic career opportunities.

 
 

PRAXIS TALKS

 

Praxis talks bring thorough research, specific information, humanist analysis, and experience both within and beyond the academy to bear on the problems of the contemporary job market for humanities Ph.D.s.

 
 

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  • Doctoral students in the humanities frequently think of pursuing non-academic paths as an abandonment of the work they’ve done within the academy.

  • The mechanics of pursuing meaningful work beyond the academy are radically different than academic job searching. This talk gives humanist graduate students a map of this different terrain, pointing out its opportunities and making its challenges approachable.

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Praxis WORKSHOPS

 

Workshops scaffold the production of materials central to success in non-academic job markets. In either one session or two, these programs help doctoral students tackle the intimidating task of translating their expertise and professional trajectories from the academic idiom to the kind of language that helps them connect with new networks and opportunities as experts.

 
 

  • Humanist graduate students are given a lot of abstract pep talks on this important conversion—and not a lot of actual help. This workshop scaffolds the production of a non-academic resume that translates academic experience to legible professional skill sets and makes the value of academic expertise accessible to non-academic employers.

    One three-hour session or two two-hour sessions.

  • The academic cover letter is a ritualized form structured by a specific set of professional expectations. The non-academic cover letter has a great deal more flexibility—but it still operates by a specific set of very different expectations.

    In a one-session workshop, students will learn the non-academic version of the form, and produce language to articulate their skills, research focus, and professional narratives to non-academic colleagues, mentors, and employers.

    In a two-session workshop, students produce a complete non-academic cover letter to anchor their new portfolio of non-academic job materials.

  • Explaining their research to non-academics is central to doctoral students’ ability to

 

boot camps

Boot camps give humanist graduate students the chance to focus intensely on the production of a larger-scale professional asset. They’re coming soon—but if you’d like to host one immediately, do please get in touch to discuss.