The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Washington University Center for the Humanities $142,800 for “Humanities at Work: Graduate Internships for the Next Generation,” a new program that seeks to support students pursuing humanities PhDs for a wide range of career pathways.
The program addresses a shift in career outcomes — as documented by the Council on Graduate Schools, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Modern Language Association and American Historical Association — that has seen humanities PhDs put their degrees to work far outside the traditional tenure track. WashU graduate alumni with humanities degrees confirm these findings and have entered fields as varied as fundraising, consulting, higher ed administration, high school teaching, government and policy research, and libraries and cultural institutions, all benefiting from their humanities training and skills.
With the collaboration of local host community organizations, the humanities center will develop an internship program that builds skills in competencies integral to the humanities as well as the workplace such as “communication and storytelling,” “leadership and service” and “critical and strategic thinking and problem solving.” The effort kicks off in August 2024, with the first cohort of interns starting work during the summer of 2025.
The project is directed by Stephanie Kirk, PhD, director of the Center for the Humanities, Professor of Spanish, Comparative Literature, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Laura Perry, PhD, assistant director of research and public engagement, Center for the Humanities; and Meredith Kelling, PhD, assistant director for student research and engagement, Center for the Humanities.
Over three years, the internship program will place 15 graduate students in internships with local, social justice focused partner organizations under the supervision of mentors at those organizations alongside faculty mentors across all departments of the humanities. These summer internships will extend existing academic-year experiential learning opportunities and complement future programs in development as part of the new universitywide and College of Arts & Sciences strategic plans. The center will also collaborate closely with departments and the diverse cohort of faculty and staff on campus who support graduate student success. Ultimately, interns will build networks of colleagues and mentors both off and on campus while developing skills and gaining experiences that will be legible and attractive for a diverse set of future employers.
Additionally, the humanities center will host a variety of events – from information sessions to career fairs to cross-campus conferences – to engage the campus community, the St. Louis humanities ecosystem, and the broader region in the internship program.
The humanities graduate internship program continues the center’s work in reimagining doctoral training in the humanities and supporting the next generation of graduate students. Additional efforts include the Mellon Foundation–funded grant, “Redefining Graduate Education in the Humanities (RDE),” and an NEH-funded “Next Generation” grant.
