Strategies for Recruiting Students to the Humanities: A Webinar Series
We are pleased to announce a virtual event series on strategies for recruiting students to the humanities.
The first four events are structured around the chapters in our new report, Strategies for Recruiting Students to the Humanities: A Comprehensive Resource: (1) Articulating Career Pathways, (2) Curricular Innovations, (3) Cultivating a Marketing Mindset, and (4) Fostering Humanities Identity and Community. Panelists from a range of institutions will share how they built successful programs, distill lessons they learned along the way, and answer questions from the audience. The final event, to be held this winter, will delve into the resources and expertise scholarly societies offer to support recruitment on all these fronts. Each event is an opportunity to connect with a community of colleagues committed to attracting more undergraduates to the humanities.
This series is part of NHA’s Study the Humanities initiative, which is generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Project Director Scott Muir will serve as facilitator for the series.
Recordings will be available on this page after each event.
Articulating Career Pathways
This event took place on June 8th. Please click here to view the recording.
Learn about efforts to showcase successful career pathways and dispel myths about job prospects for humanities students. We’ll explore three different approaches, one launched by a department, one by a humanities center, and one by a college of arts and sciences and delve into strategies for building successful partnerships with career services staff and potential employers.
- Lynn Itagaki, Associate Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Missouri
- Timothy Melley, Professor of English and American Studies and Director of the Miami University Humanities Center, Miami University
- Joely Proudfit, Professor and Chair of American Indian Studies and Director of California Indian Culture & Sovereignty Center, California State University, San Marcos
Curricular Innovations
This event took place on June 22nd. Please click here to view the recording.
Learn about models for developing curricular innovations that draw students to the humanities. We’ll explore curricula that appeal to students’ immediate interests and professional aspirations as well as those that deepen their connections to the local community through community partnerships and place-based learning.
- Edward Cohn, Associate Professor of Russian History and Co-director of The Humanities in Action initiative, Grinnell College
- Judd Ruggill, Department Head and Professor, Public and Applied Humanities, University of Arizona
- Irene Liu, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Le Moyne College
Cultivating a Marketing Mindset
This event took place on July 15th. Please click here to view the recording.
Delve into strategies for engaging community members, prospective students, and current students to promote humanities majors, courses, and public programming. Leaders of successful outreach efforts from a department, an interdisciplinary center, and a dean’s office will share what they’ve learned about reaching key audiences.
- Ashley Bender, Assistant Professor of English and B.A. in English Program Coordinator, Texas Woman’s University
- Melissa Valiska Gregory, Associate Dean for the Humanities and Professor of English, University of Toledo
- Oliver Rosales, Professor of History and Faculty Coordinator for Social Justice Institute, Bakersfield College
Fostering Humanities Identity and Community
This event took place on July 29th. Please click here to view the recording.
Explore strategies for encouraging students to identify with the humanities and connect with a like-minded community, from cohort programs to departmental programming to peer mentorship initiatives.
- Ellen McClure, Director, Engaged Humanities Initiative and Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, University of Illinois Chicago
- Sarah Olzawski, Program Officer at Oklahoma Humanities and former Senior Academic Counselor, University of Oklahoma
- Leslie Wilson, Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Montclair State University
Leveraging Scholarly Society Resources to Enhance Recruitment Efforts
This event took place on February 9th. Please click here to view the recording.
Scholarly societies have developed a range of strategies and resources that faculty and administrators can leverage in their efforts to attract undergraduates to the humanities. Explore scholarly society recruitment resources and strategies and learn how you can adapt them to your contexts.
This session was moderated by Paula Krebs, executive director of the Modern Language Association. Panelists include:
- Amy Ferrer, Executive Director, American Philosophical Association
- Aaryn Green, Assistant Director of Research, Professional Development, and Academic Affairs, American Sociological Association
- Ed Liebow, Executive Director, American Anthropological Association
- Emily Swafford, Director of Academic and Professional Affairs, American Historical Association