Career Pathways for Humanities Students
September 17, 2024
Start time: 3:30 p.m.
End time: 4:30 p.m
Location: Virtual
Description
Why study the humanities? In this workshop, Scott Muir will share resources the National Humanities Alliance has developed to answer that frequent question, "What are you going to do with that?" -- including data-based arguments for how studying the humanities promotes career success, stories of how humanities majors leveraged their skills to build fulfilling careers in a variety of fields, and models for integrating humanities education and career preparation to support post-graduate success. This presentation will illustrate why a humanities-rich, liberal arts education is a strong bet for a future that will reward those with advanced "human skills" not automatable and require all to make career shifts to adapt. Moderated by Marcus Messner.
About the Speakers
As director of undergraduate initiatives at the National Humanities Alliance, Scott Muir leads the efforts to forward innovation in undergraduate humanities education and attract a broader range of students to the humanities. He is host of the podcast What Are You Going to Do with That? and the author of Strategies for Recruiting Students to the Humanities: A Comprehensive Resource (2021) and Expanding Access to Undergraduate Humanities Education: Models and Strategies (2024). Scott completed a doctorate in religious studies at Duke University and has taught at Western Carolina University.
Marcus Messner, Ph.D., is the associate dean for faculty and academic affairs (humanities and social sciences) in the College of Humanities and Sciences. He is responsible for supporting the academic units within his area, which includes the Departments of African American Studies, English, Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture and the School of World Studies. Messner also serves as a tenured professor in the journalism sequence of the Robertson School. He is an Eminent Scholar in the College of Humanities and Sciences and has been honored with VCU's Distinguished Teaching Award.