Across the country, leaders of PhD programs in the humanities face a conundrum. How can a department honor the subjects, methods, and practices of their disciplines while also preparing graduates for diverse careers? 

To inspire our thinking, we have invited directors of some of the most imaginative programs across the country for an Obermann Working Symposium as part of the Andrew W. Mellon-funded Humanities for the Public Good initiative. The daylong program will be held Friday, March 8 at the Iowa City Public Library. Everyone is welcome. 

What would an introductory course for an interdisciplinary humanities PhD look like? What can we learn from alumni in varied careers? How are departments preparing students to create digital and publicly engaged scholarship? To work collaboratively? How can we weave experiential learning into graduate studies? How can we best support humanities graduate students from underrepresented groups? What alternatives to the proto-monograph dissertation might serve students seeking careers in administration, curriculum development, government, non-profits, and publishing?

Sam Rebelsky  is troubled by the fact that computer science remains dominated by white men from middle- to high-socioeconomic backgrounds. "Computers are changing the world, and a limited set of views is building that technology," he says, pointing to trends in the U.S., in both industry and the academy. "If we don't make sure that a broad range of people are involved in developing the technology, we're less likely to have successful or positive change."  A professor of computer science at Grinnell College and a Fall 2018 Obermann Fellow-in-Residence, Sam Rebelsky is part of Digital Bridges for Humanistic Inquiry, an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded partnership between the University of Iowa and Grinnell College.