I won’t lie – sometimes I’ll be crouched down on the concrete, using a roll of black gaffer tape to fix a hundred feet of speaker cable to the gallery floor, and I’ll think to myself “I’m certainly putting my PhD to good use.” But really those moments are few and far-between, and I certainly […]
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Sara Ogger | New York Council for the Humanities
As a “Week in the Life” guest-blogger I will take you with me on the road—two trips that represent one of the best aspects of my job as Executive Director of the New York Council for the Humanities. Every year our staff and board undertake an intense touring itinerary of one of the state’s regions; […]
Joseph Shahadi | The Art of Brooklyn
My fantasy of earning a PhD—a life of the mind, narrow but deep, which led to a prestigious and institutionally secure position —was a powerful one. It kept me going as, red-eyed, sporadically bearded and fortified with takeout Chinese, I banged away at my dissertation. (I should note that some of my cohort took a […]
Rosemary G. Feal | Modern Language Association
I am one of thousands of PhDs who work in organizations connected to the higher education world. You’ll find us concentrated in Washington, DC, the home of big players like the American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities, or scattered across the United States and Canada as staff members of […]
Tony Kireopoulos | National Council of Churches
If someone were to show me when I was young the path my career would take, I would have been skeptical. The title of one of my favorite songs, “The Long and Winding Road,” wouldn’t have begun to describe it. Fresh out of college with a bachelor’s degree from one of the more prominent university […]
Christopher P. Thornton | National Geographic Society
“Hi. My name is Chris, and I am a workaholic.” I’ve never joined a 12-step program, but if I did, this line would be the first sentence I’d utter (unless it was an AA meeting). For me, work is its own reward – something about the Protestant Ethic or American Dream or whatever – which […]
Pallavi Phartiyal | Union of Concerned Scientists
Earlier this year, I spoke at the Life Sciences Career Day at my alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison. This was a homecoming of sorts for me as it was exactly 10 years ago that I was in the audience in that same building – a much older, shabbier version of it – listening to speakers […]
Hanna Griff-Sleven | Museum at Eldridge Street
When I was senior at Grinnell College, finishing up my degree in American Studies, a friend and I used to fantasize about moving to New York City, posting an ad in the Village Voice. It would say, “Need to get in touch with your roots? Contact Hanna and Sarah and we will research your family […]
Maria Lahuerta | ICAP
I consider myself lucky: I really like my job. Not sure about you, but I was never the type who knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. One day, I wanted to study architecture, another day medicine, and the next journalism. Since I wasn’t able to make up my mind, I went into […]