PROPOSAL TYPE
Structured Conversation
SEEKING
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
- Seeking Additional Presenters
RELATED TOPICS
- Labor and Economy
- Reflections on the Field
- Teaching and Training
ABSTRACT
While career resources for both new graduates and established professionals are plentiful, we have experienced a lack of resources for those in between. Our panel will be a candid discussion on the first five years after graduating with an advanced degree in Public History or a related field. Presenters will briefly discuss their professional path so far before opening the floor to a larger conversation with the audience.
DESCRIPTION
This structured conversation will explore the first five years after graduating with an advanced degree in History, Public History, or a related field. Discussants will talk about their respective academic and career journeys including experiences with the job market, skills current students should consider building before graduation, how post-graduation plans changed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what they wish they knew about the field before joining it. Panelists will briefly present about their public history experiences, then have a structured conversation amongst each other. The audience will be invited to participate in the last 30 minutes. The atmosphere should be open and relaxed, with the audience encouraged to ask questions and offer their own advice. This panel will fit well within the 2023 conference theme of “TBD” as we all deal with the rapidly changing public history field.
We are looking for 2-3 additional participants with unique public history experiences and perspectives to join us. We would also appreciate any additional feedback.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Catherine Stiers, College of Charleston, [email protected]
ALL FEEDBACK AND OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 7, 2022. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
I think it would be valuable if a session like this could result in a product that institutions could use to mitigate the gap you’ve found between entry-level and established-career offerings. Those of us who are established started our journeys in different climates and may find such a product useful.
Hi Catherine,
I think this is something that the New Professional and Student Committee would be really interested in supporting. I will follow up with a private email connecting you with the current co-chairs
Just want to second both Ed and Julie’s comments: perhaps this is a Working Group that generates some sort of document? Something akin to the PH Navigator that folks can access directly, or a document helping graduate program directors think about how they can better support alumni during that important window? Whatever the format, this is an important topic.
I see this having the potential as a workshop, and agree with Marla that a compiled resource document coming out of the participants & audience feedback would be quite useful.
I would love to see a participant who might have obtained the degrees mentioned, but eventually left the field, yet still uses the skills learned. There’s been a definite shift away from the field for many, but I don’t think that necessarily means that what we’ve learned can’t be used elsewhere–truly making public history applicable anywhere. I think that would give hope to those who might be considering it, but don’t want to see their time doing the work as “wasted” and instead, a valuable asset outside of the traditional path,