Friday-Saturday, March 22-23, 2019 Grucci Room, 102 Burrowes Building

This two-day symposium will bring together seven graduates from Penn State’s School of Global Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and current doctoral students for two half-day sessions focused on the growing range of academic, academic-adjacent and non-academic careers for which a Ph.D. in languages, literatures, and cultures offers preparation. Participants from varied professions including government service, academic librarianship, academic administration, and program management will share experiences from the perspectives of both job applicants and employers. The Friday afternoon session will feature a roundtable discussion with the guest panelists followed by breakout sessions led by the panelists, organized around specific career paths. The Saturday morning session will focus on the current academic job market and will feature doctoral students with recent experience. The event aims to encourage both information-sharing and networking and frank discussion of the versatility of a humanities Ph.D. in languages, literatures, and cultures, with broader implications for other liberal arts fields.

For planning purposes, please contact Devon Johnson at dcj2@psu.edu to indicate which session(s) you will attend.

Schedule
Friday, March 22
2:00-3:30 – Roundtable with panelists: “The Agile Humanities Ph.D.? Choices, Trajectories, Career Paths”
3:30-4:00 – Coffee break
4:00-5:00 – Breakout sessions with panelists
5:00-6:30 – Reception
Saturday, March 23
9:00-10:00 – Breakfast
10:00-12:00 – Roundtable on this year’s job market with current graduate students
12:00 – Lunch

Symposium participants (Friday): Christi Brookes, Professor of French and former interim Associate Dean, Central Michigan University (Ph.D., French and Francophone Studies, 2004); Lauren Halberstadt, Student Engagement and Intercultural Learning Manager, Penn State University (Ph.D., Spanish and Language Science, 2017); Heather Hayton, Professor of English and Director of the Honors College, Guilford College (Ph.D., Comparative Literature, 2000); Hélène Huet, European Studies Librarian, University of Florida (Ph.D., French and Francophone Studies, 2015); Nicole McInteer, Associate Dean of International Admissions, Wake Forest University (Ph.D., Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, 2016); Ashley Roccamo, Training, Education and Instructional Design Specialist, American University (Ph.D., Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, 2014); and Rebecca Zajdowicz, Intelligence Research Specialist, Drug Enforcement Administration (Ph.D., Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, 2010).

Saturday: Molly Appel (Comparative Literature), Lauren Brooks (German), Johann Le Guelte (French and Francophone Studies), Victoria Oana Lupascu (Comparative Literature/Asian Studies) and Elizabeth Tuttle (French and Francophone Studies)

This event has received generous co-sponsorship support from the College of the Liberal Arts, the School of Global Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of French and Francophone Studies, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.