MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 7--UPDATED
Here's what the University of Chicago is doing.
UPDATE: A Chicago graduate writes:
I just saw your post about what UChicago is doing to help grad students find work outside the academy. I’m not really sure what this is worth, but, in my experience, this isn’t something that philosophy grad students, at least, should get too excited about. I went to a handful of these events during my last couple years in Chicago, and didn’t find them helpful in the least. One was a sort of Q&A with a UChicago science PhD (biology, maybe?) working as a consultant, and it was very much focused on the sciences. His attitude struck me as being basically like “I mean, if you’re in the humanities, you can apply, but we’re really looking for the skills people learn doing a PhD in the sciences.” (I did apply, and didn’t get an interview.) More humanities-oriented events turn up jobs in government and non-profits that look like great options for history (and art history) PhDs. But philosophy seems to be slipping through the cracks between the other humanities and the social and natural sciences. So I ended up feeling that UChicagoGrad doesn’t do any better for philosophy PhDs than the philosophy faculty do [in helping graduates find work outside the academy]––which is to say that there’s not much help to be found. And I can’t help but feel that the whole thing (and the whole alt-ac phenomenon in general) is just a way of excusing a failure to think seriously about the real significance of the current state of the academic job market. And, again, I did try to use the resources on offer. But it wasn’t really any more helpful than talking to a random non-academic at a party.
Alas.
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