Who are Working PhDs?

We are a group of humanities graduate students and professors at the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music dedicated to bridging the gap between academia and industry.

We design our projects to inspire academics to look beyond academia and think broadly about the ways that they can contribute to society. We are driven by the conviction that our unique training in the humanities affords us a broad range of skills that can, and should, be put to numerous ends.

As academic jobs dwindle and as the world develops faster than our ability to comprehend it, two opposing problems are becoming clear: we need more humanists, and yet humanists are feeling ever more precarious. Working PhDs empowers academics to think differently about their training, to consider their career paths with dynamic flexibility, and to find what it is that they love to do.

Our mission

The academic job market has been in decline for over a decade and has only
deteriorated faster in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Humanities graduate
students throughout the country are being forced to pivot last minute, to join
a non-academic marketplace that they know very little about and for which they
feel radically underprepared. In light of this, we at Working
PhDs have begun to design resources that provide information on the clear and
actionable paths available to all students, particularly in the humanities, who
hope to pursue non-academic careers.

Contact

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