Working Toward a Better Job Market for Ph.D.s
As humanities Ph.D.s scramble to find employment in and outside of academia, they have found a national champion in Bob Weisbuch. Weisbuch, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, is heading up a bold new program, "Humanities at Work," and is on a mission to change the employment landscape for those holding Ph.D.s, especially those in the humanities.
The five new initiatives represent a crucial step in the Foundation's revolutionary campaign to change the economic status of the humanities within academia by providing stronger career opportunities for humanists. The initiatives are:
* Career Post Doctorates. Developing non-academic career opportunities. The Career Post Doctorates are in five specific categories: technology; consulting; K-12 education; government/ non-profits and other business. Microsoft, the National Park Service and others are on board.
* Innovation Awards. Offering $10,000 grants directly to university departments to develop new opportunities for humanities Ph.D.s. The awards encourage the departments to help students interact with the world outside academe as part of their graduate training.
* Practicum Grants. Awarding $1,500 to support humanities Ph.D. graduate students to develop internships to utilize their academic discipline outside of college teaching and research.
* Imagining America Program. Offering six competitive $5,000 grants to support projects by university-based artists and humanists working in collaboration with community partners. Each project will be designed to address a key issue of cultural or social significance in the community.
* Academic Post Doctorates. Creating new two-year teaching opportunities for humanists within academia.
While all five initiatives hold significant promise to help Ph.D.s in the job market, perhaps the most innovative is the Career Post Doctorates. The program is designed to create employment opportunities for humanities Ph.D.s strictly outside the academy. This is the first time something like this has ever been done. Weisbuch says he and his colleagues were initially seeking 15 potential employers. "The response was very encouraging, and we ended up getting 20," he says.
Bob Weisbuch can provide you with specifics. He can be reached at [email protected] or by calling Linda Sheldon at 609-452-7007, ext. 28. Liz Duffy, vice president, is also a good source of information and can be reached at ext. 18 or [email protected]. The Foundation's Web site: http://www.woodrow.org/.
RSS