Plotting the Field of Humanities PhDs at Work

University of California Humanities Research Institute

September 15, 9:30—100:00 AM

This session draws on lessons from PhD tracking initiatives at national organizations and California universities to discuss the complex career trajectories of former doctoral students, including those who have left the academy. Panelists will discuss their experience administering PhD tracking surveys to highlight the varied methods of obtaining and disseminating information about doctoral students.

As UCHRI embarks on a system-wide tracking initiative, we hope to expand graduate student tracking efforts and develop best practices for collaboration across institutions. To that end, this workshop is primarily intended to engage all summer institute participants in a working conversation surrounding the practical and theoretical challenges of tracking, including attention to process, information sharing, and the acknowledgement that tracking is as much about departmental and university identity as it is about individual students at work in the world.

Guiding questions include:

• How have departments and institutions tracked graduate students? What characteristics define effective tracking systems?
• What are the challenges in collecting, maintaining, and presenting tracking information? What are the legal ramifications in publicly sharing information about former graduate students?
• How can institutions support departments as they track their doctoral students?
• What information do we need to better understand the career trajectories of former graduate students?

Invited participants include Robert Townsend (Humanities Indicators), Brian Cook (Stanford University), and Molly McCarthy (UC Davis), with Kelly Brown (UCHRI) and Sabrina Smith (UC Los Angeles) as moderators.