May 2023 Public Humanities Newsletter

A monthly newsletter from Humanities for All, an initiative of the National Humanities Alliance.

May 03, 2023

In This Newsletter:

If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to our Substack (for free!) so that you receive the newsletter in your email inbox and don’t miss any news in the future. We also encourage you to submit items to share. If you have any questions or would like to connect about the newsletter, please email Humanities for All Project Director Michelle May-Curry (mmaycurry@nhalliance.org).

Launching soon! Documenting the Impact of the Public Humanities in Higher Education: A Toolkit

The week of May 15, the National Humanities Alliance and the Humanities for All initiative will launch a new resource for public humanities practitioners. Created with funding from the Whiting Foundation, this toolkit on documenting the impact of higher ed-based public humanities work will provide information on creating surveys and focus group/interview protocols as well tips on analyzing and mobilizing the data collected. Add your name here to receive the toolkit when it launches!

Calls for Proposals

Black Women’s Suffrage Movement in Washington, D.C.

Proposals due May 22, 2023

D.C. Preservation League seeks proposals from qualified consultants interested in undertaking research to identify themes, establish associated property types, and create a preliminary inventory of significant historic resources associated with the Black Women’s Suffrage Movement in Washington, D.C. The selected Consultant will: produce a Historic Context Statement to thematically address the Black Women’s Suffrage Movement in Washington, D.C.; produce two, new individual landmark nominations for submission to the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites and the National Register of Historic Places related to the Context; and present the Context and nominations to the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board. Learn more here and submit a proposal by May 22, 2023.

Imagining America National Gathering

Proposals due May 31, 2023

In partnership with College Unbound, AS220, the City of Providence, and a diverse local Steering Committee, Imagining America (IA) invites participants to gather in Providence, Rhode Island, for the in-person 2023 IA National Gathering. IA is a national consortium that brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory America and world. This call for participation is open to everyone, IA members and non-members. The submission deadline is Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 11:59 PM PT.

May Spotlight: Season 2 of What Are You Going to Do With That?

The National Humanities Alliance’s Study The Humanities initiative is excited to announce a new season of What Are You Going to Do with That?, a podcast where host Scott Muir explores everyday folks’ decisions to study the humanities as undergraduates and their pathways to fulfilling careers.

This podcast is designed for students, as well as those who advise them, including parents, academic advisors, career counseling staff, and high school teachers and guidance counselors.

The new season features eight stories about diverse professionals with humanities backgrounds who not only do well for themselves but do good for the world. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you may get your podcasts.

Episodes include:

Advance Equality: Debo Adegbile shares how studying the humanities prepared him for a successful legal career through which he has fought for justice and equal opportunity for all citizens. He describes how following his interests in the humanities imparted the skills, values, and a breadth of perspective that empowered him to take on some of our society’s most complex issues, including voting rights, police reform, and bias in artificial intelligence.
Build a Social Enterprise: Lauren McCraney shares how returning to school to pursue her passion for the humanities catapulted her to an inspiring second career as the founder of Woven Women Collective, a social enterprise that provides Guatemalan women with sustainable work and social support while also preserving the artisanal textile production traditions these communities have developed over generations.
Elevate Cultural Institutions: Meet Hannah Hethmon, creator of more than a dozen podcasts that make the crucial work of cultural organizations come alive. Hannah describes how pursuing her love of literature and history cultivated the passion, skills, and drive necessary to build a successful and fulfilling enterprise. Her story shows how studying the humanities positions you to seize unanticipated professional opportunities as they emerge.

Listen and share it with others!

Upcoming Events

Boston University Francophone book group discussion

May 10, 2023 | 4:00–5:30 PM EDT

The Boston University African Studies Center invites you to join their Francophone book group discussion (on Zoom) around "Reine Pokou" by French-Ivorian author Véronique Tadjo. You can read the book (in French or in English) on your own then join on May 10 to discuss in French with other Francophone teacher colleagues. The group will discuss the themes that come up in the book, brainstorm and share ways to approach this book in the classroom, and watch excerpts from a short film based on the legend of Reine Pokou. The event is free and open to any Francophile educator. Learn more and register here.

Graduate Education Counterspaces: Imagining America and Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) virtual event

May 11, 2023 | 1:00 PM EDT

Join Imagining America’s Teaching and Learning Circle as they examine challenges and barriers that engaged/public graduate scholars and practitioners experience both inside and outside of higher education institutions and the potential power of counterspaces, such as the Imagining America network and Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) program, to support graduate scholars’ identity development, acts of resistance to higher education norms, and growing engaged/public scholarship and practice. Learn more and register here.

Publication and Project News

Recently on the Humanities for All website:
On the Humanities for All blog, Michelle V. Moncrieffe, Eileen G. Harrington, and Laura Moorhead write about the Narratives and Medical Education (NAME) project, which is focused on collecting and sharing the oral health stories of underrepresented minority communities across the United States.

Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change: Stories of Relational Organizing on Campus and Beyond is a new book from Cornell University Press by Maria Avila that shows how five community engagement research projects in the greater Los Angeles area were able to create more collaborative and participatory cultures in their academic institutions and nonacademic settings by using community organizing, research in action, and narrative inquiry. These projects focused on incorporating civic engagement into the work of scholars; creating a civic engagement minor at California State University, Dominguez Hills; integrating community organizing practices within the Los Angeles Unified School District; and building a regional organizing network among civically engaged higher education institutions. As the case studies authored by Avila and her collaborators show, these projects succeeded because they took place in collaborative spaces where participants were part of designing the purpose, goals, and specific actions to create culture change.

Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions: Power, Diversity, and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education is a new volume from SUNY Press co-edited by Bianca C. Williams, Dian D. Squire, and Frank A. Tuitt. The book provides a multidisciplinary exploration of the contemporary university's entanglement with the history of slavery and settler colonialism in the United States. Inspired by more than a hundred student-led protests during the Movement for Black Lives, contributors examine how campus rebellions—and university responses to them—expose the racialized inequities at the core of higher education. The book is comprised of three sections that highlight how white supremacy shapes campus communities and classrooms; how current diversity and inclusion initiatives perpetuate inequality; and how students, staff, and faculty practice resistance in the face of institutional and legislative repression. Each chapter interrogates a connection between the academy and the plantation, exploring how Black people and their labor are viewed as simultaneously essential and disruptive to university cultures and economies.

Reparative Universities: Why Diversity Alone Won't Solve Racism in Higher Ed is a new book from Johns Hopkins University Press by Ariana González Stokas. As institutions increasingly reckon with histories entangled with slavery and Indigenous dispossession, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts occupy a central role in the strategy and resources of higher education. Yet reparation is rarely offered as a viable strategy for institutional transformation. In Reparative Universities, González Stokas undertakes a critical and decolonial analysis of DEI work, linking contemporary practices of diversity to longer colonial histories. González Stokas argues that diversity is an insufficient concept for efforts concerned with anti-oppression, anti-racism, equity, and decolonization. Reparation is offered as a pathway toward untangling higher education from its colonial roots. Engaging with a broad range of theories from decolonial philosophy to organizational psychology, González Stokas offers a pathway—guided by reparative activities—for institutional workers frustrated by what often feels, as Sara Ahmed describes, like "banging one's head against a brick wall."

New York Liberation School: Study and Movement for the People’s University is a new book from Common Notions by Conor Tomás Reed exploring the public engagement work taking place at the City University of New York. In the 1960s and ’70s—when Toni Cade Bambara, Samuel Delany, David Henderson, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Guillermo Morales, Adrienne Rich, and Assata Shakur all studied and taught at CUNY—New York City’s classrooms and streets radiated as epicenters of Black, Puerto Rican, queer, and women’s liberation. Reed is part of the next generation of insurgent CUNY thinkers nourished by these legacies. Highlighting the decolonial feminist metamorphosis that transformed our educational landscape, New York Liberation School explores how study and movement coalesced across classrooms and neighborhoods.

Employment and Funding Opportunities

The CUNY Humanities Alliance seeks a Research Fellow to undertake research on the program’s impact on approaches to mentoring and career preparation in doctoral education, the development and support of equitable, inclusive practices in classrooms and universities, and the role of community colleges and the humanities within the higher education landscape. The position will remain open until filled, with review of applications beginning on April 28, 2023.
The University of New Mexico College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences (CULLS) seeks a skilled, enthusiastic, service-oriented leader to fill the position of Director of the Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (CSWR). This senior management position will articulate strategic leadership, clear vision, and direction for CSWR; forge dynamic partnerships with academic departments, local communities, and regional, national, and international cultural organizations; advance a workplace culture that is collaborative, productive, empowering, and mutually respectful; cultivate and steward donors; and provide expertise in the acquisition, processing, management, and preservation of unique collections and archival materials in a variety of physical and digital formats. Apply by May 5, 2023 for best consideration, though this position will remain open until filled.
The Smithsonian Institution seeks a Director of the Rural Initiative. The director will lead the Rural Initiative’s activities and functions, leading a pan-institutional effort that incorporates units, departments, and staff from across the Institution. This position is located in the Office of the Under Secretary for Education, which is responsible for identifying opportunities for cultural, educational, and enrichment programming and research. Apply by May 8, 2023.
The Mellon Foundation seeks a Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Planning for Arts and Culture (MSIP). Reporting to the Program Director of Arts and Culture and a senior member of the Program Director’s team, the MSIP will assist the Director in shaping the vision and implementing ongoing and new initiatives within Arts and Culture. Both internally and externally, the MSIP will coordinate convenings and draft communications and serve as a critical resource to members of the Arts and Culture team. In addition, the MSIP will represent the Arts and Culture team in internal and external engagements relevant to the team’s strategic direction, programmatic activities, and grantmaking work. Apply by May 15, 2023.
The Federation of State Humanities Councils seeks a Communication & Membership Specialist. This position supports the Director of Communications & Development by creating, coordinating, and managing various membership-focused communications and promotions and producing content to help raise the Federation’s public profile outside of its annual conference and in-person events. Additionally, the Specialist will manage the day-to-day operations of the online Member Portal to spearhead member customer service and play a critical role in establishing the new association database as a powerful, organization-wide information-sharing tool and operational resource. Apply by May 24, 2023.
The Modern Language Association seeks graduate students to apply to its Public Humanities Incubator program. Twelve graduate participants are placed in teams with mentors active in the public humanities. Over the course of the incubator, from September to December, teams work with their mentors to envision their research as contributions to public humanities scholarship and to imagine audiences and impact, form and dissemination, collaboration and partnerships, and the project’s life cycle. The mentors for 2023 are Sarah Buchmeier (National Park Service), Darryl Dickson-Carr (Southern Methodist University), Valerie Popp (New Jersey Council for the Humanities), and Michael A. Smith (The Fine Foundation). Apply by June 30, 2023.
Williams College seeks a Public Humanities Archivist. The archivist will play a key role in crafting practices of communally accountable institutional memory with the aim of stimulating dialogue with students, faculty, staff, and alumni about local histories in relationship to broader histories and themes. The history of Williams College and its relationship to land, labor, and systemic inequities serves as a lens through which to support a wide range of curricular and extracurricular programs. The archivist will oversee collection development and all aspects of campus and public engagement with the College Archives, including instruction, exhibits, and creative co-curricular programming.
The Harvard & The Legacy of Slavery Initiative at Harvard University is hiring a full time Research Fellow and a part time Associate Research Fellow to join the Slavery Remembrance Program (HSRP), a special-purpose task force. The fellows will use archival resources to identify enslaved individuals who labored on Harvard’s campus and those enslaved by Harvard leadership, faculty, or staff. Research Fellows work at the frontier of HSRP knowledge-discovery and collect the raw material from which genealogical and historical conclusions can later be fashioned.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is hiring an experienced Research Grants and Fellowships Administrator for a new full-time, exempt position. The position will work with faculty Principal Investigators (PIs) on proposals and awards in the humanities and public humanities. Candidates with an M.A. in a humanities field and with strong written and communications skills are encouraged to apply. Position will remain open until filled.
Clemson University is looking for three Black Heritage Trail (BHT) Program Coordinators for its three locations (Clemson University's Main Campus; City of Clemson, South Carolina; and City of Seneca, South Carolina). The BHT Program Coordinator will help manage various initiatives associated with the BHT, a multi-faceted public humanities project that will share stories about Black people in Clemson University history, in the City of Seneca and Oconee County history, and in the City of Clemson and Pickens County history through interpretive signage, artwork, and historical markers installed on the Clemson campus, in the City of Seneca, in the City of Clemson, and on the project website. Performs other duties, as assigned. Apply by May 16, 2023.
The Henry Ford Museum seeks a Curator of Political & Civic Engagement. The Curator of Political and Civic Engagement manages and participates in the growth, research, and interpretation of The Henry Ford’s political, social justice, and civic engagement collections. These collections document the ways in which individuals have transformed society through political processes—whether singly or as part of groups or movements, whether via legislative procedures or through activism and protest, whether through overt political action or through creative expression. Responsibilities also include participation in exhibition and program development—particularly via community engagement and outreach—and creation of curated content in digital and physical forms, as well as other relevant initiatives at The Henry Ford.
The Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin seeks applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor of Art History. This search—part of the Expanded Approaches to the Arts Initiative in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin—seeks scholars whose research engages with underrepresented archives and repertoires in the arts and whose methodological or theoretical approaches expand traditional geographic and/or temporal articulations of artistic canons and/or traditions. The Expanding Approaches Initiative places high value on inter- and cross-disciplinary thinking, public humanities, and creative practice components of a scholar’s portfolio.
The State Humanities Councils are hiring!
- Indiana Humanities seeks a Communications Manager to play a key role in developing connections on and offline, using inclusive community engagement strategies and communicating with the public through a variety of methods—including staffing programs, presenting at community meetings, building relationships with the media, staffing booths at public events, and more.
- Oklahoma Humanities is now hiring a new Program Officer to join their team. This full-time (35 hours per week), salaried position oversees a literature-based reading and discussion program, called Let’s Talk About It, and a traveling exhibit program for rural Oklahoma—Museum on Main Street—with the Smithsonian Institution. The Program Officer may additionally participate in special programming initiatives as opportunities arise. This position reports to the Executive Director and works in close collaboration with staff members and board committees. Open until filled.
- Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) seeks to fill two open positions:
  - Humanities Officer. This position reports to the Chief Humanities Officer but may work with the Chief Executive Officer or Directors of Strategic Partnerships. The Humanities Officer is expected to be collaborative, adaptable, and a highly organized individual. The Humanities Officer is responsible for developing and executing humanities projects; providing project management and coordinating day-to-day logistics; facilitating and completing evaluation of humanities projects; cultivating and strengthening community partnerships; and participating in and supporting MHC hosted/sponsored/supported events. Open until filled.
  - Director of Strategic Communications (DSC). This position reports to the CEO and is a member of the senior management leadership team. The DSC will be responsible for driving MHC’s overall communication strategy. The DSC will provide vision and leadership to advance brand visibility, strengthen thought leadership, influence public opinion, enhance internal communication, and inspire broader engagement with MHC. Open until filled.
- Maryland Humanities is seeking candidates for a Program Officer position. The Program Officer, Partnerships is responsible for serving as a connector and convener of the humanities sector in Maryland. The Program Officer reports to the Director of Programs and collaborates closely with other program staff and all Maryland Humanities staff.
- Humanities Texas seeks to hire a grants program officer. Responsibilities include supporting the promotion and administration of our grants program. The grants program officer will report to the director of grants but work closely with other staff.

As always, check out the latest postings on the job boards for the National Council on Public History and the American Association for State and Local History, which provide lists of opportunities that might be of interest to those trained in the public humanities.

Interested in careers in scholarly publishing? Check out the Association of University Presses and the Society of Scholarly Publishing job boards.

Interested in careers in museums? Check out the American Alliance of Museums job board.