Humanities Roundtable for Undergraduates

A forum for undergraduate students about the strengths of humanities degrees for preparing for success in the job market.  We will focus on global--national and international--competency, and how to pursue international and related comparative and language-based work. The forum will be led by Harvey Graff, professor, English and history and director, LiteracyStudies@OSU.  

Representatives from International Affairs and Career services will provide specific guidance and resources for how to pursue culturally diverse careers, both domestic and international, in a variety of fields (not just the humanities fields). The purpose of the forum is for students to gain insights on how to leverage their strengths in the humanities. Current Ohio State students and recent graduates will share their stories. Students will choose between small group discussions on:

• Becoming an employee who asks the right questions on the job; being a problem-solver in complex global work environments.
• Maximizing humanities degrees for the job market; finding the right combination of abilities and skills from your degree and international experience.
• OK, I’ve gone abroad, now what do I do? What abilities from international experiential learning translate to the resume?
• I don’t speak a foreign language - is it too late for me to think about international work?
• How can global competency reinforce one’s ability to deal effectively with diverse perspectives in the workplace?

The forum will wrap up with a discussion on "Putting all the pieces together: Knowledge, abilities, and skills for a competitive job market", and be followed by a reception with coffee, tea and light snacks. 

This event is sponsored by the Humanities and the Arts Discovery Theme Mobile Coffee Series the Area Studies Centers of the Office of International Affairs, the Center for Languages Literatures and Cultures, and Arts and Sciences Career Services. 

Career Services, will be on hand to answer questions. Organizers encourage you to visit the event website for related jobs, articles on the job market and and other information to help you prepare and get the most out of the forum. 

Please visit the forum’s web site for readings on how the humanities support career prospects and busting/countering myths of the ideas which motivate some students to look toward other fields in order to ensure job security.

Primary contact: Megan Hasting