Humanities Without Walls Predoctoral Career Diversity Summer Workshop - Internal Competition

Humanities Without Walls (HWW) seeks applications from doctoral students pursuing degrees in the humanities and humanistic social sciences for the HWW Predoctoral Career Diversity Summer Workshop, to be held from July 17, 2023 to July 28, 2023, in Minneapolis, MN. Students must be in residence in Minneapolis for the duration of the workshop and are expected to attend all workshop activities. Lodging and some meals will be provided; fellowship awards are intended to cover transportation costs to/from and around Minneapolis, meals, and other expenses.

Hosted in 2023 by the University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts, the HWW Predoctoral Career Diversity Summer Workshop is an intensive, student-centered career exploration program of values discernment and practical preparation for jobs in a variety of sectors, both beyond and within the academy. HWW's cohort-based approach emphasizes student agency while giving attendees space to reflect on their professional journey. Workshop sessions intentionally lay foundations for the fellows as they do the real-time work of discerning personal career values, building community within their cohort, making professional contacts, and researching potential career paths. Participants will learn how to leverage their skills and humanities training towards careers in the private sector, the nonprofit world, arts administration, public media and many other fields.

The very concept of “humanities without walls” commits us to the work of social justice in the context of career diversity programming, and we work to create sessions which help us grapple with the long history of inequities based on race, indigeneity, gender, and class. Participants are typically invested in the pressing social justice issues of our time and are seeking ways to bring humanistic values, insights, and skills to their work lives, whether in the public, nonprofit, or private sector. Previous HWW Summer Workshop Fellows have come from a variety of humanistic disciplines, with experience in community building, museum curation, filmmaking, radio programming, social media, project management, research, writing, and teaching.

This is a limited-submission application. Eligible doctoral students must be nominated for this fellowship by their home institutions, and only one nomination may be made to HWW by each university.

Important dates & details

Internal application deadline: November 1, 12 PM CST

HWW application deadline: December 6

Announcement: February 2023

Workshop dates: Summer 2023: July 17, 2023 to July 28, 2023

Award: $4,000 for transportation costs to/from and around Minneapolis, meals, and other expenses; lodging and some meals will be provided

Eligibility: HWW especially encourages students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in higher education to apply. All applicants must be enrolled full-time in a doctoral program in a humanities or humanistic social science discipline at a university within the United States. Applicants may be at any stage of their doctoral work, but they cannot have received the doctoral degree at the time of the workshop. International students are eligible to apply but must confirm their registration and eligibility status at their home universities. HWW is not responsible for issuing visa paperwork or advising on taxation policies.

How to Apply

Download application cover sheet

To be considered, interested doctoral students from Washington University must submit their applications to the Center for the Humanities by November 1, 2022. Send an email to cenhumapp@wustl.edu using the following naming convention for your application PDF: Last name First name HWW Workshop. Please do not submit your applications directly to HWW.

Applications should include the following:

• A completed application cover sheet
• A narrative (1,000 words maximum) explaining the applicant’s intended career trajectory and addressing the following questions:
     — What are your career interests or your intended career trajectory? How have your background and experiences impacted your choices?
     — How will this workshop help you achieve your goals? What knowledge and skills are you hoping to learn?
     — What will you bring to the workshop community? What relevant experiences (personal and professional) will help you to contribute to the workshop cohort? 
     — How will you share what you learn at the workshop with colleagues, your department, campus, and beyond? What impact will it have on your community, field, or discipline?
     — How do you plan to incorporate a social justice lens into your daily work in your future career?
     — What opportunities (if any) have you had at your campus (or beyond) to explore diverse career opportunities?
• A resume or CV (two pages maximum) that includes relevant professional experiences (e.g., volunteering, part-time employment, etc.)
• Letter of recommendation emphasizing your fit for this workshop. Please arrange for your adviser/dissertation chair to submit their letter by email to cenhumapp@wustl.edu by November 1, 2022.

NOTE: The Center for the Humanities will work with the selected applicant on their final application to HWW. At this time, the applicant chosen will need to provide an additional second letter of recommendation by the deadline for submission to HWW on December 6.