NEXT GENERATION HUMANITIES AT BERKELEY

FAIN: ZA-250746-16

University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)
Anthony Cascardi (Project Director: February 2016 to May 2019)

Planning at UC Berkeley around seven topics: 1) analysis of peer institutions and organizational infrastructure; 2) considerations of academic innovation; 3) the challenge of changing graduate student expectations; 4) student career development opportunities; 5) exploration of partnerships and internships; 6) professional learning communities for graduate students; and 7) program evaluation.

Diminishing tenure-track opportunities and the changing nature of work and careers call for academic innovations and new support structures for humanities PhDs. The University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) proposes a planning effort for the study, assessment, and recommendation of structural changes to the formal and informal elements of doctoral education. Our planning framework is built upon seven areas of inquiry investigated by a critical combination of senior campus officials, strategic partners, and current PhD students. Under the guidance of deans and chairs, the planning work will result in the substantive change of the humanities PhD from a specific form of research apprenticeship to a means of developing well-placed leaders able to meaningfully apply the critical tools of humanistic inquiry to a variety of fields.