Humanities Without Walls 2017, Chicago, Illinois, July/August 2017

The Humanities Without Walls is a consortium of humanities centers and institutes at 15 major research universities throughout the Midwest and beyond. Based at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the consortium is funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In summer 2017, this consortium will sponsor our first national summer workshop for graduate students interested in learning about careers outside of the academy and/or the tenure track system. This 2017 PreDoctoral Summer Workshop is a continuation of the original workshop series in the summers of 2015 and 2016 organized by, and presented in partnership with, the Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF). Guided by one of the leading public humanities organizations in the nation, these workshops encourage humanities doctoral students to think of themselves as agents of the public humanities and showcase opportunities beyond the walls of the academy in an uncertain academic job climate.

We invite applications for fellowships from pre-doctoral students to participate in a three-week intensive, residential summer workshop for individuals who are working towards but have not yet received a PhD in a humanities discipline, and who plan to continue their degree programs while also considering careers outside the academy and/or the tenure-track university system.

The summer workshop will instruct students in the various ways they can leverage their pre-existing and developing skill sets towards the pursuit of careers in the public humanities and the private sector (also sometimes referred to as “alt-ac” careers). Familiarity with the vital connections between academic and public worlds can also enrich traditional scholarly endeavors.

Guest speakers—including leaders from the non-profit world, the private sector, federal and state government offices, public media, arts administration, NGOs, and more—will make daily presentations to workshop fellows. Field trips to relevant sites will supplement the instruction that takes place in the workshop. The workshop will conclude with a 2-day National Public Humanities Summit featuring an evening plenary session and a day of lectures and discussions focused on developments in the Public Humanities.

Graduates from the workshop will emerge with a network of contacts in a range of professional realms; a significantly broadened sense of the career possibilities that await humanities PhDs; a cohort of “alt-ac” fellows from whom they may draw support and advice; and a set of resources aimed at helping them advance into the various realms considered under the broad rubric of “the public humanities.”