Where to Start? A Public Humanities Primer for Graduate Students

Workshop series, February 20-21, 2025

The spring 2025 RDE workshop for WashU graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences will focus on the public humanities. Through a series of workshops and sessions led by scholar practitioners and members of key foundations supporting humanities research and collaboration, students will gain exposure to public humanities methods and projects intended to inspire and ignite their own project designs. They will also learn the value and importance of research collaborations with communities and organizations outside of the university and discuss how — and why — to pursue meaningful collaborative projects as a part of doctoral training.

This workshop is designed for graduate students in the humanities at any level; we especially encourage those earlier in their training to attend. Since a key goal for the workshop is to train students how to articulate the value of humanities skills and research to those outside of higher education, “Where to Start?” is an essential resource for any humanities student planning to pursue projects or employment outside of higher education. 

All members of the WashU community are invited to attend an opening roundtable featuring the workshop’s invited guests on Thursday, February 20 at 4 pm in McMillan Café. Faculty and staff supporting humanities PhD students are especially encouraged to attend.

Register for the workshop

Graduate students at any level in humanities and humanistic social sciences fields are invited to attend this all-day workshop on Friday, February 21.

Click here

Schedule

Thursday, February 20

4 pm Roundtable, McMillan Café

What are the public humanities and why should we foster student engagement in their methods? All are welcome at this event. Graduate students registered for the RDE workshop are strongly encouraged to attend.

Friday, February 21

The RDE workshop is for gradaute students in the humanities and humanities social science fields. Students will have the opportunity to network more closely with invited guests and hear about both methods and projects in the public humanities, as well as how they can secure funding for projects from highly-regarded foundations and organizations.

9:30 am – Breakfast and initial conversations

10 am – Kendra Sullivan, Director of the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center
Public projects and publishing in collaboration with communities, incorporating writing as a throughline in public projects.

11:15 am – Janine Utell, Associate Director of Academic Program Services and Professional Development, Modern Language Association
Public humanities “sandbox." Brainstorm on project ideas, then discuss resources from MLA and other entities that will help you implement project goals.

12:30 pm – Lunch

1:30 pm – MJ Rymsza-Pawlowska, Associate Professor of History and Public History, American University 
Suggestions, scenarios, and best practices for getting involved in public humanities work as a graduate student in university context. Topics covered will include collaboration, ethics, scaling and sustainability, and possibilities for connecting interdisciplinary public humanities and academic work.

2:45 pm – Desiree Barron-Callaci, Senior Program Officer, American Council of Learned Societies
Building professional skills through scholarly research that will serve multiple potential career paths and help to articulate a student’s approach to future research collaborators beyond academia. A humanities resume brainstorming session with insights from the ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship program.

This workshop is offered as part of Washington University’s RDE Initiative (Redefining Doctoral Education in the Humanities, or “Ready”). RDE focuses on developing capacities in graduate education essential for success both within academia and in the world beyond. Follow this link for details of past retreats and more on the RDE initiative.