Earn $$$ for LILAC'S "Humanities @ Work: Using the Liberal Arts to Open Doors" Intensive
Earn $$$ participating in the LILAC intensive Humanities at Work: Using the Humanities to Open Doors during Spring 2019!
How is a degree in the humanities useful in the working world? What skills do you have
that will enable you to be successful in your professional life? What can the humanities
offer towards understanding the shifting process of constructing a happy working life that
you feel is worthwhile?
Come and explore these questions, and GET PAID to do so, with LILAC’s new “Humanities
@ Work” program. Contrary to perceptions that exist in the media, you, as devoted
students of the arts and the humanities, will actually be ideally poised to make the most of
life in the 21st century. During this intensive you will have the opportunity to identify the
skills you possess, discuss your personal values and their relationship to work, articulate
your past work experience and trajectory, explore a variety of potential work
environments and paths, and get to know fabulous BMC alums who have used their degrees
in French, History, English, Sociology, Classics, Education (and many more) to find success
in fields ranging from book editing, law, and reporting to finance and consulting.
Intensive Requirements:
- Any class year, with preference given to humanities/humanistic social science majors
- Applications from first years who are undeclared will be evaluated based on ability to convey interest in majoring in the humanities
- Max number of students: 20
- Humanities and Humanistic Social Science Majors include (as defined by the Mellon grant): Anthropology, Arts (Creative Writing, Dance, Fine Arts, Music, Theater), Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Classics, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Education, English, Environmental Studies, Growth & Structure of Cities, History, History of Art, International Studies, Languages (all), Latin American, Iberian, and Latina/o Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology
- 30-40 hour non-credit intensive program over the course of ~7 weeks
- PAID ($10/hr.) opportunity – apply to earn between $300-$400!
- Students must attend all sessions – Thursday sessions are from 6:30-8:30
o Sunday January 20 Team building day 10:00-4:00
o Thursday January 31
o Thursday February 7
o Thursday February 14
o Thursday February 21
o Thursday February 28
o Thursday March 7
o Dinner with alums post spring break. Date/time TBD on January 20
Application instructions:
- Interested students must submit a resume and one page cover letter in Handshake by Sunday, December 2 at 11:59 PM
- The one page cover letter must address the following:
- Describe why you are interested in the Humanities at Work: Using the Humanities to Open Doors to a Satisfying Life Intensive. Include 1-3 action items you want to take away from the intensive.
- Complete the attached value exercise, describe your top value, and discuss how that value influences your decisions. (Please download the exercise on the right side of this page.)
- Find a field/job/internship using of the LILAC databases. Share the field/job/internship, which database you used (Going Global, Handshake, LinkedIn Jobs, Spotlight on Careers, Vault, etc.) and one thing you find interesting about the work. The password to access the resources is traditions.
Intensive Objective:
To help you expand your concept of careers related to the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
Detailed Intensive Description:
Potential Alum & guest speakers include:
o Alex Quinn, English, 2008, Associate Director, Foundation & Public Sector Relations at Chicago Humanities Festival, Founder of Mawrters @ Work Facebook Group
o Sarah Bidgood, Russian Language & Literature, Wellesley, Senior Research Associate at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
o Amy Drake Gallagher, Cultural Studies, 2002, Executive Assistant, CNN
o Sharon Harshbarge-Kucera, History, 1990, Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley
o Kate Dugid, Philosophy & French, 2009, Bonds and Currency Correspondent, Reuters News Agency
o Marcia Cantarella, Political Science, 1968, Consultant, Change, Create, Transform
o Debbie Carlos, History, 1998, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Commercial Litigation, Comcast
o Farar Elliot, History of Art, 1987, Chief, Office of Art and Archives, US House of Representatives,
- The purpose of this intensive is to help you see the connections between your training in the humanities and the world of work. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Scholars and students across the world continue to recognize this connection between critically analyzing the world through humanistic pursuits and finding value in one’s daily life. However, while many people find the humanities an intriguing area of study in college, there is often anxiety generated around the practical challenge of using a degree in the humanities to construct a happy and worthwhile life. This intensive will provide humanities majors with the time, resources, and opportunities necessary for doing this important intellectual work.
- Contrary to perceptions that exist in the media, you, as devoted students of the arts and the humanities, will actually be ideally poised to make the most of life in the 21st century. You are, according to Google recruiters and others, possessed of the skills most needed by the new and perpetually changing internet economy. You will have the broad skills in critical thinking, writing, planning, and imagining that will be essential to thrive in a world where change is the only constant. In addition, you will have the creative skillsets required to lead an interesting life; a life that possess and creates value by standards and ideals that you set for yourself. You will be able to make your own life and will have the ability to determine the shape and trajectory of your professional livelihoods.
- This intensive will help you develop the agency to understand these conditions on a deep level, and connect these truths not only to complete an analysis of the cultural moment, but also to realize the ways in which your personal values can be the levers that help you find your path both personally and professionally.
- This intensive will proceed from values to explorations of how the workplace can help nurture and develop these values. We will look at the skills that you possess and the abilities you might want to cultivate. We will proceed to explore strategies that you can use to find traction in the workplace, to discover (or to create) jobs that will honor your deep-seated values, your desires to act in and on the world, your material needs, and the absolute likelihood that all of these factors will change over the course of your lives.