Connecting Your Past and Future: #PhDCareer Mini-Conference at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

NMAH, The American Historical Association, The Organization of American Historians, and the National Council on Public History sponsored a one-day mini-conference on October 30, 2015, for history PhDs seeking careers outside of academia.

The first panel, “Life After the PhD,” featured Damion Thomas, curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Beatrice Gurwitz, Assistant Director of the National Humanities Alliance, and Daniel Gifford, manager of Museum Advisory Committees at the National Museum of American History.

Speakers in the second panel, “Finding Your Post PhD Direction” were Jon Enriquez, Director of Research and Policy Analysis at the Maryland Higher Education Commission, Robert Ehrenreich, Director of University Programs at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Catherine Cardno, web editor at Civil Engineering, and Emily Swafford, Manager of Academic Affairs with the American Historical Association.

The third panel discussed “Marketing Yourself/Telling Your Story” with Chris McNickle, former Global Head of Institutional Business with Fidelity International, Mary McPartland, Collections Manager of Historic Documentation Programs with the National Park Service, Michelle McClellan, Assistant Professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Joan Zenzen, independent historian.

The final session of the day spoke to "Making the Transition Into a New Career" with panelists Katja Zelljadt, Director of Challenge Grants at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Kelly Morrow, Senior Research Associate at Angel and Morgan Consulting, Sejal Patel, Senior Health Policy Analysis at Mitre Corporation, and Chris Nehls, consultant at Democracy Fund.

After Storify announced they were discontinuing their services in 2018, NCPH preserved these Storifies on our website.