Career & Tools
Check out Stories from the Field--a data booklet that details the narratives and numbers that give voice to some of the conditions and futures facing today’s UC humanities PhDs. In it, UCHRI and Humanists@Work charts the economic outcomes and career trajectories for humanities PhDs against those of their peers in other disciplines. Read on for more details!
Stories from the Field is a data booklet that details the narratives and numbers that give voice to some of the conditions and futures facing today's UC humanities PhDs. In it, University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) and Humanists@Work chart the economic outcomes and career trajectories for humanities PhDs against those of their peers in other disciplines. This project was funded by a grant that the UC system received from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) for their Career Pathways project, and supported two distinct, but related, data collection projects:
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Doctoral Survey. UCOP and CGS conducted a broad survey of UC doctoral cohorts (representing years 2001-2, 2002-3, 2008-9, 2009-10, 2013-14, and 2014-15). This effort to survey alumni is part of a national effort to better understand PhD outcomes and the professional landscape for alumni.
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Alumni Focus Groups. Throughout 2019, UCHRI & Humanists@Work conducted 6 alumni focus groups and 3 in-depth interviews with UC PhD alumni working outside the professoriate.
Humanists@Work is currently distributing the booklet nationally via email and also has hard copies available to those who plan to engage with some of the issues that arise from the publication. They hope to help foster and facilitate campus-based conversations around Stories and are interested in developing partnerships with campuses to host in-person (or hybrid) traveling roadshow-style events for interested divisions, departments, and institutes/centers.
About Humanists@Work
Humanists@Work is a systemwide graduate student professionalization initiative that was created in 2013. In addition to a wide variety of activities, such as a paid graduate student advisory committee, LinkedIn group with over 600 PhDs, and more, it hosted 8 day-and-a-half long workshops in collaboration with 6 UC campuses. The workshops were intensely collaborative events in which the organization partnered with grad students, university staff and faculty, and many, many UC alumni. Stories is an outgrowth of this longstanding work in the field of professionalization.
More Projects from Humanists@Work
Alongside the data booklet, Humanists@Work has also launched new content on its website. You can find both the booklet and a handy user's guide, as well as a series called Alumni@Work. This series profiles alumni at work, and includes information about salary and debt, as well as questions that go beyond typical conversations about transferable skills. There will also be a new podcast series led by two graduate students. Entitled "Under Review," it approaches career diversity in a way that embeds it within larger discussions of contingency, educational reform, and racial and socioeconomic diversity.