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Okay, the neighbor's pig & I have recovered from that workshop, so let me tell you about the future of higher education after covid as I envision it. 
https://twitter.com/hralperta/status/1336753764766773249
https://twitter.com/hralperta/status/1336753764766773249
First, here's what I liked about that panel: they don't seem to have noticed, but only one person was employed as a faculty member! But they all have prestigious jobs shaping the humanities. Pretty fucking great and accurate.
I also liked that there was a lot of disagreement about what to talk about. Is the question how we define success? How we conceive of curriculum? How we understand what the job of faculty members is? How we structure career preparation? I don't fucking know, this is complicated.
Like where do we even start when we're talking about the future of higher education? Damn.
I mean, it's a hard question but it's also our jobs, so here we go.
We have to start with students, obviously. Who do we want our students to be? What is their professional mission? How can our programs support those missions, from recruitment to the job search?
We have to start with students, obviously. Who do we want our students to be? What is their professional mission? How can our programs support those missions, from recruitment to the job search?
The future of graduate education is one that, first and foremost, supports graduate students. Graduate students as members of a community that is vital and vibrant and diverse, and visionary. Graduate students as all of our futures.
Grad student missions should encompass humanistic work: history, literature, philosophy, language, and the arts.
But they should include other things. Lifting up a new generation of scholars. Serving the community you come from. Shaping public policy. Fighting for equity.
But they should include other things. Lifting up a new generation of scholars. Serving the community you come from. Shaping public policy. Fighting for equity.
How does graduate education in the humanities serve those missions?
By equipping students with the research skills they need to accomplish the work, and the professional skills they need to gain access to a platform from which to do their work.
By equipping students with the research skills they need to accomplish the work, and the professional skills they need to gain access to a platform from which to do their work.
This will take substantive change. Like working with current students to assess their goals. Hiring staff who can help students plan for their futures. Hiring faculty with diverse professional experience. Restructuring recruitment and assessment strategies. Being visionary.
But being visionary is a lot easier from the outside. All the faculty I know are busy keeping their head above water and trying to survive tenure. As I wrote last week, this is why the false austerity in the humanities benefits universities. It keeps faculty in line.
So I guess what I'm saying is, I know change is hard. But I also know that change in grad education can make our profession so much better. Not just because we will be less likely to break the hearts, minds, and wallets of brilliant thinkers in our community. But because if we +
do this work right, we could have a future where students no longer come to us asking whether the humanities are self-indulgent because the value of our work in the world will be explicit and self-evident. Because we will be doing more good. Every day.
