Humanists@Work

Humanists@Work (HumWork) is the graduate career initiative for the University of California. HumWork is organized by the UCHRI and sponsored, in part, by the Modern Language Association’s Mellon-funded Connected Academics grant.

Mission

To facilitate graduate student-led initiatives and programs that build the structures and communities necessary to allow PhD students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences to be and feel valued as professionals with diverse career opportunities.

Programs and Activities

Biannual Workshops. Twice-yearly graduate career workshops, hosted in partnership with UC campuses. Travel grants available to UC humanities graduate students.

Web Resources. A robust website includes upcoming event information, resources from past workshops, and content that represents multiple stakeholders and viewpoints. A LinkedIn group, PhDs in the Humanities, facilitates national conversation about relevant topics.

Graduate Advisory Committee. Reflecting HumWork’s conviction that graduate student leadership is critical to the initiative, a Graduate Advisory Committee offers substantive feedback on all activities. The Committee plans and leads workshops and contributes to the HumWork website.

Humanities Internship. A paid, eight-week internship demonstrates investment in year-round labor for humanities graduate students and the value these scholars bring to diverse settings.

Values

Collaboration. Deep collaboration with faculty members, campus career counselors, department staff, professionals in the field, and—most importantly—graduate students, is an essential component of the effort to re-conceptualize PhD education and professionalization.

Experimentation. Experimentation with the content and structure of programmatic activities reveals key issues to address, new ways to reach stakeholders, and best practices for humanities PhD training.

Culture Change. The pervasive attitudes toward non-professorial careers within the academy must change in order to transform how students approach professionalization, faculty members support graduate students, and institutions address the career challenges facing humanities PhDs.

Highlighting and Valuing Labor. Humanities graduate students should recognize the work they do has value and be treated as professionals with lucrative skill sets. Wherever possible, their work should be made visible and remunerated accordingly.

Community. A UC-wide community of graduate students, faculty members, and other key advocates strengthens engagement in critical, yet challenging conversations around the role of career training for humanities PhDs.

Holism. To acknowledge the many roles graduate students play in addition to being students and scholars (e.g., as family members, activists, and teachers), professionalization activities must address the “mechanical” elements of thriving in the workforce and facilitate critical discussions about graduate student experiences.