Before the First Day of Graduate School
Introduction: Why This Guide?

education and the professional

This document suggests best practices

pressures, financial worries, andfor navigating doctoral education in theemotional ups and downs that typicallyhumanities and interpretive social

arise through the process. It wassciences as a whole person. It provides a

written by the American Council of

Table of Contents

map of the institutional contexts in the

Learned Societies (ACLS) in

university within which individual PhD

conversation with colleagues andprograms operate, with a focus on North

scholars across the disciplines. We at

American institutions. Its purpose is to

ACLS are grateful for their thoughtful

empower all readers (including

insights and suggestions, and weundergraduates considering graduate

encourage readers to consult their own

school, doctoral students, and faculty)scholarly societies’ websites for morewith knowledge about how to make theinformation and support. Many

doctoral experience enriching andsocieties offer specialized advice on

Introduction: Why This
Guide?
The 21st Century
University
How Universities WorkHow to Work in the
University
Maintaining Momentum
and Well-Being
Career Planning andFuture Thinking
Appendix: Resources
About ACLS

humane—despite the structural

doctoral education.

inequities that characterize higher

This guide emerged out of a series of conversations among the ACLS federation of 79 scholarly societies on how best
to support scholars at the earliest stages of their careers. It is a living document, which means that it will change overtime, as scholarly societies, ACLS, and other organizations continue to gain deeper understanding of how best to
support doctoral students and as graduate education (and higher education more broadly) continues to change andadapt. It is written in a spirit of realism and optimism: realism because graduate school is a multistep process over
several years, and students need to have clarity about how best to complete those steps; and optimism because
although institutions of higher learning are imperfect, they remain key to the larger mission of educating students,
working with communities, and producing and disseminating knowledge.

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Since 1919, doctoral education has been a key common interest linking ACLS member societies, member institutions,
fellows, supporters, and staff. The ACLS community sees the PhD as the future of the academic study, in the form of
the people who will carry forward strong scholarly values and skills, and who are often the best inciters of change andtransformation in research, teaching, professional culture, and practice.

The 21st Century University
Doctoral programs
Doctoral study provides a distinctive opportunity to develop a range of high-level skills and in-depth knowledge, toimmerse oneself in one or more fields of study, and to utilize those skills and knowledge in making valuable
contributions to the advancement of scholarly research and the broader understanding of humanity. Graduate
programs provide a structure for receiving specialized guidance in the design, development, and completion of acomplex, innovative, and original research project; but a successful experience as a graduate student—intellectually,
professionally, and individually—entails a good bit more.
During graduate school, most students will progress through a sequence of academic tasks: classes, exams, thedissertation, and the dissertation defense. Beyond these core requirements, there are additional elements: often(though not always) teaching, presenting work at conferences, sending out articles for publication, and perhaps someform of service (such as serving as a graduate student representative, or becoming involved in your discipline). Some
programs have added internships that enable students to undertake work inside or outside the university that may
better prepare them for jobs outside the classroom after they complete the PhD. Many students have opportunities
to engage in collaborative projects, to travel, to work closely with senior scholars, or to work with externalorganizations. At its best, doctoral study enables students to develop an area of expertise, working closely with adissertation advisor as well as other faculty and mentors. Through the process of working on a PhD, students willhone their research skills, their capacity for critical thinking, their ability to communicate verbally and in writing, andtheir ability to organize and manage a complex project. Depending on their program and individual trajectory, they
will develop other competencies as well: teaching, presenting, collaborative skills, and the like.
Challenges and contradictions
To our collective benefit, and at times our peril, many of us work and study in institutions whose ways of structuringknowledge, valuing certain kinds of labor, and doing business are tied to much older institutional histories andknowledge organization (Cassuto and Weisbuch, 2021). We are also witnessing increasingly complex pressures—someexternal, some internal—on institutions of higher education. As a result, many of the tensions that have always beensimmering below the surface have amplified and, in some cases, erupted.
More recently, issues of belonging and justice surfaced in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and they currently takemany different forms: anti-racist and decolonial activisms; calls for diversifying faculty and students; curricular anddisciplinary shifts; and grassroots and university diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) efforts. As these efforts
advance and become more common on many campuses, there are now debates about whether this work can retain
its power to remake the university when it becomes institutionalized, or whether this is a necessary step in order tocreate a different culture. Within institutions, there is increasing attention to meeting the needs of a more diverse
student body, both undergraduate and graduate, that includes students who are first generation, who have physicaldisabilities, who are neurodivergent, who are primary caregivers, and/or who belong to historically marginalizedgroups. There is also growing wealth and income inequality globally. At the same time, political attacks on DEIJ workat public institutions, including legal challenges across the U.S. to limit and control the material taught in college
classrooms, further complicate matters. The COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing impacts underscore the crisis inmental health among students and the need for institutions to examine how they provide support andaccommodation for all those who study and work within them.
It is also a moment of increased attention to the inequalities that seem baked into higher education: the hierarchies
within academic ranks, the adjunctification of the university labor force, and the decline in number of tenure-track
positions. Graduate students, along with part-time faculty (often called “instructors” or “contract faculty” or“contingent faculty”), have unionized at many schools, in some cases resulting in better working conditions as well as
increasing tensions. Whether or not you are at one of these institutions, this is the landscape of higher education thatyou must learn to traverse.

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The possibilities of a “new academy”
This is also a moment of excitement and innovation, with plenty more room for growth. Many fields have opened up
their scope of analysis, methodologies, and aims; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, along with new areasand subfields across the arts and sciences, offer new questions, ways of producing knowledge, and approaches tosolving complex problems. We at ACLS, along with many others, are engaged in the work of fostering change ininstitutional structures and cultures that support a broad range of scholarly work and the flourishing of those doing it:
for example, helping to support efforts that expand what counts as scholarship and research that encourages wider
consideration for non-traditional publication (including digital projects, publicly engaged work, open accessscholarship, and the like).
This guide lays out some of these tensions and constraints. It endeavors to explain what doctoral education is right
now while also describing what it can be, as part of what we might think of as a “new academy.” Progress is alreadyestablished or work is underway in many institutions to rethink and reform what we have collectively inherited. These
efforts aim to create infrastructures, relationships, and cultures that better serve students and faculty and to address
the stresses and inequalities that permeate higher education.

How Universities Work
Most doctoral programs are located in large, complex institutions. The task of examining universities and theirorganizational dynamics may not seem terribly exciting; it might even feel like the corporate antithesis of why you
came to graduate school in the first place. But there are (at least) two reasons to do this: the first is your own success,however you define that; and the second is that most likely, very few people will spend time dissecting the institution
with you. We will say that from our experience, most scholars, once they start digging, find institutions moreinteresting than they first thought!
One of the deepest contradictions of higher education is that many academics have a deep ambivalence about theinstitutions in which they work. Many people enter the academy believing it to be a refuge from late-stage capitalism,
where the currency of the realm is original thinking and the possibility of freedom lies in the unfettered pursuit ofcreativity-inspired research, only to discover that like all institutions, universities are socially situated and deeply
embedded in the same macroeconomic structures as the rest of the world. It’s easy to be let down by institutions, todisavow their organizational dynamics, or to see them as beyond rehabilitation—particularly when they cause harmto people and communities, or generate ever-proliferating bureaucratic tasks that demand too much time andattention. It’s not a surprise that some academics prefer not to engage with the institution and to define their own
success in more conventional academic terms (publications, grants, teaching) instead of faculty governance oradministrative leadership. Some may also teach their students a similar strategy, by example and/or omission. But
this is a privilege not available to everyone, and one that ultimately does not serve the well-being of anyone in higher
education.
The purpose of this section is to make these structures visible and to point out what might be called the “hidden
curriculum” of the university. Because these structures are obscured, particularly for students whose families may
have spent less time interacting with academia (including first-generation students and students who belong tohistorically marginalized and/or economically disadvantaged communities), we approach the work of understanding
university with a commitment to equity and access. Ultimately, we suggest that the problem is not critique—which isnecessary and important—but the absence of inquiry into the structures we inhabit, which is the reason behind thepaucity of serious, practical discussion about action for change. As you know from your coursework, the best critiques
emerge from deep understanding. The same is no less true for the university.
The first step, then, is learning where you are and how it works. In this section, we provide you with some of thequestions to help make the hidden structures of the university visible. It offers starting points of information
gathering and questions to ask. Cultivating a practice of asking questions and independent fact-finding will help you totake charge of your graduate school experience and your life beyond the PhD.

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Where you areHigher education institutions are complex places in which you occupy an integral but specialized position. This is not acommentary on your individual significance, but simply an acknowledgement that you are embedded in a large
ecosystem of many moving parts. You are situated in your department, and how your department enables you towork and move through your program is contingent on information relays and systems of support outside thedepartment itself.
One place to start is with your institution’s mission statement. These can vary, depending on the type of institution:
private, religiously affiliated, public, land grant, and so on. Mission statements are important for understanding thestated values of your university and can affect policies and practices across the institution as well as in yourdepartment.
How it works
Here are some additional questions you can begin with to map the structure of your own department:-

Who is your office staff and what are their roles?
Who is your department chair? What does a department chair do in your institution—what are their
responsibilities, and to whom do they answer?
How long has the current chair been in the department?
How long have they been chair?

Some of this you can find out by asking experienced graduate students, or the office staff themselves. You can andshould also talk with your assigned adviser, and if you don’t have one, talk with the chair. People are usually glad todescribe their department service if you ask questions in a collegial spirit. Many faculty find this service timeconsuming and something of a distraction from their teaching and scholarship, so be aware that they may interpret
your questions as nascent criticism. Be ready to explain that you are simply trying to figure things out, and that should
reassure them. Asking staff and faculty about their roles can help you to determine the depth of institutional
knowledge and history each person has, and how this might translate into the level of support they will be able toprovide you in the future. What questions might they be able to answer for you? Can they direct you to specificpeople and resources? This is especially important information to know about your chair and director of graduate
studies (DGS).
Remember that asking these questions and learning the answers is a process that will unfold over time. Try not to
overwhelm any one person with all of your questions at once.
Questions you may direct to both your chair and your DGS or other faculty member you feel comfortable consulting:-

What is the funding structure of your department per graduate student?
When will you be eligible for competitive funding?
What is available for competitive funding? (fellowships and their requirements)
Where is information housed on how to apply for different types of funding?
What professional development resources are available and where?
Who assigns teaching, and how does that process work?

Other questions to establish other department-university network connections are:-To whom does your chair report; that is, with what dean do they work (humanities, social sciences, arts andhumanities, arts and sciences, etc.)?
Is there a separate graduate school at your institution, or is governance of graduate education woven into
one school or college?
Who are the deans relevant to your school and program, including the dean or vice provost of graduate
studies?
How does your advisor, and other faculty members you work with closely, fit into this hierarchy?

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Effectively, you are constructing the organizational chart that is foremost a chain of communication that funnels
directly to your department and then to you. Most importantly, you are mapping a community of people as resources
who will be able to field questions that emerge as you pass each program milestone. For example, if you have aquestion concerning funding, taking medical leave, or even professionalization opportunities, this is a useful chain ofcommand to become familiar with.
Beyond the organizational network path, explore adjacent relations of support that help your department run. These
could include finding out:-

Who is the ombudsperson for graduate students? Is there a graduate student union?
Who is responsible for student affairs for graduate students?
What graduate student organizations are present at your institution? In your department?
Is there a humanities center in your school? What is its function in your program?

Finally, consider those sources of support within the larger institution:-

Are there affinity groups (such as queer student groups, Black student groups) and/or centers?
Does your institution offer parental leave? Do you have access to campus childcare?
As necessary, can you reach out to your institution’s accessibility office, office for international students,
center for teaching and learning (or equivalent), and/or library?
If you have moved to a different city/state/country, consider asking about local support systems for new
members of the community. Also think about how you will maintain any distant support systems.

Keep a running list of these resources once you discover them. If it doesn’t already exist, you might consider creatinga shared document with your cohort or other graduate student that each person can refer to as needed (as always,
be mindful about what you store in “the cloud”). You could find that you and your peers have similar questions andare in search of the same information. As a system of mutual support, if you all feel comfortable sharing particularexperiences, note on this document the problem you encountered and who (and where they are located) helped you
to resolve it. Noting the questions you asked and what answers you were given is a means of tracking how policies orprocedures (may) change over time and help you update these shared resources accordingly. For the duration of yourgraduate tenure, a resource such as this could become unwieldy, given the potential for substantial addition andexpansion, so be sure to pare it down at intervals so it remains relevant and digestible.

How to Work in the University
The structures, timelines, and shapes of funding at most colleges and universities were designed for a different age
and a particular kind of person: someone who is able-bodied, neurotypical, and most likely privileged by their social
location (class, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, citizenship, and so on). Certainly, graduate programs were
not designed with primary caregivers or single parents in mind. While some institutions have begun to rethink andredesign their programs to reflect this reality, most have not. There is much work to be done. With help fromdocuments like this and from the students, faculty, and staff around you, you will need to figure out how to make theuniversity work for you, even if it wasn’t made to work for you. Ask for what you need, but be prepared for answers
that may not always provide you with everything you asked for. Most likely, you will encounter some disagreement

and even conflict around the very question of what graduate students need in order to do their work.
Intellectually and structurally, graduate school presents a fundamentally different proposition than undergraduate
programs. You are learning how to produce knowledge in your field, and the expectations of your classes and otherbenchmarks (exams, dissertations, and the like) are more rigorous and intense than in most undergraduate majors.
Your program has been designed with certain goals and expectations in mind. You are being asked to channel andcontrol your intellectual passions, though many would suggest (including the authors of this document) thatremaining open to new passions and interests is in your long-term interest. After all, one never knows where newideas may lead.

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Research and the dissertation
While the end product of a doctoral degree—the dissertation—has remained relatively stable for centuries, this isshifting in some (though not all) fields. Forms of scholarly investigation are shifting and expanding throughout theacademy. Some graduate students and scholars are working on a range of scholarly activities, including publicly
engaged work, digital scholarship, and scholarship that engages with forms beyond the monograph. (For example, see
the Next-Generation Dissertations website, a 2021 project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.) It
is also worth noting, as well, that humanistic research takes place in many contexts—in NGOs, the public sector,
healthcare, community-based organizations, and corporate settings—as well as within the academy.
These projects are exciting, but they may come with additional challenges; some may view them as risky. Your
professors will no doubt have a range of attitudes toward these approaches, and possibly strong views. You may alsochoose to write a dissertation, still the standard practice; this, too, is an excellent choice. Most important is that you
think carefully and strategically about your topic, as well as who you work with: the composition of your committee
and most importantly, your advisor. These choices have implications not just for your project but also for yourpostdoctoral career. Whatever you decide, start from a place of personal and intellectual interest, and work to
articulate the significance of your research in the language and values of your discipline.
If newer directions are interesting to you, consider introducing yourself to different ways of approaching and defining
scholarly work through the classes you take or the professors you work with. Reach out to scholars doing innovative
work. Look for collaborative, publicly or community-engaged projects that are often housed in humanities centers orsimilar kinds of labs or initiatives. Consult any guidelines made available in your field, which continue to change andare updated to reflect the evolution of scholarship and its forms. For example, the AAA released guidelines for publicscholarship in Anthropology in 2017. The AHA released new Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical
Scholarship in 2023, which outline the core values underlying a wide array of historical work. As well, the MLA
released their Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Scholarship in 2021, which provide an overview of both the
ethics and approaches to public work that may be of interest to scholars in many fields. Many societies have released
guidance on digital scholarship; one example is the MESA Guidelines for Evaluating Digital Scholarship. Guidance inyour field will help you understand some of the issues that may apply to graduate work, as well as hiring andevaluation in your field. Consult the society in your field(s) for guidelines or white papers, as well as opportunities toconnect with scholars working in emergent subfields or using innovative methodologies and approaches inestablished areas.

Teaching and other kinds of laborYour work is not limited to intellectual labor. You may be teaching, ideally with some training or mentorship (thoughmany programs still do not teach graduate students how to teach), or working as a researcher for a professor; you
may be working in a lab, an administrative office, or with another collaborative endeavor; you may hold an internshipor an externship. There is no question that these kinds of experiences can help prepare you for a range of
postdoctoral career pathways. If you are teaching, take advantage of opportunities to learn teaching tools andstrategies; use the classroom as a space where you can engage with a range of students and to learn about theirneeds, experiences, and viewpoints. This will not only make you a better teacher, but also a better writer, researcher,and thinker.
There are other activities that are sometimes framed in terms of “good departmental citizenship”—participation indepartment or program colloquiums, conferences, or attending lectures by outside speakers—which are part of theworkload of faculty members. They can also be considered part of your work as a graduate student, within reason andgiven your own time constraints. They provide opportunities for showing up as a member of the community, asking
questions, and being a generous participant—all of which can, in turn, further your own learning curve.
Universities are complicated workplaces, and ideas about what constitutes work, and what doesn’t, have changed
over time. Indeed, there may be tensions at your university about whether activities such as teaching should be solely
viewed as labor, or whether they are also part of your training and apprenticeship. Clashing views are likely tied tolarger questions about labor, working conditions, and budgets; generational differences may also come into play. Be
aware of these differences, talk with other graduate students, and be honest with yourself and others about what you
need.

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Perhaps graduate students and professors on your campus are unionized, or perhaps not. Perhaps your institution has
a history of labor negotiations; perhaps those around you are planning a strike, or engaging in other strategies tocompel the institution into conversations about the working conditions of graduate students and non-tenure-track
and tenure-track faculty. Learn what is happening and decide how you will engage.
Managing expectations and developing healthy work habits
The rigor of graduate school requires that you hone your skills in organization and task management. The rest of thissection suggests ways to organize yourself and focus on learning how to approach work with a sense of how toprioritize and distill larger tasks into smaller ones, as well as to remind you that communication with others is key.
Ultimately, organization is not just about getting through your program, or succeeding as a graduate student; it is also
about wellness and realism. The core challenge is to manage expectations realistically, both those emanating fromoutside of you as well as those you have created for yourself.
Make sure to start each year with a clear sense of the program’s expectations of you—important guideposts, tasks,
and the like. Keep in mind that certain fixtures of doctoral programs in the past, such as exams, are changing in many
fields; for example, a range of exercises may be included under the category “exams.” Likewise, professors inindividual courses should communicate clear expectations to their students. Meet with your graduate advisor tounderstand what is expected of you and when, and how your advisor prefers to work together.
Oftentimes, we think of ourselves as disorganized when the reality is that we have become overwhelmed. Thus, we
can think of organization as serving two related functions: to establish a system of tracking your progress that, in turn,
prevents you from becoming overwhelmed. Everyone arrives at their goals in different ways, but it is still helpful toconsider ways to prioritize what you need to feel organized. If you can prioritize your tasks, this also helps you tostave off anxiety and exhaustion by effectively allocating time for rest and regeneration.
Use your progress tracking to observe patterns in to-do list items that never get crossed out. Ask yourself: Why am I
not getting around to doing these things? What do these things have in common? Often it is the case that they are“BIG,” complicated tasks [does your list include (a) go to the grocery store, and (b) solve world hunger?]. If this is true
for you, breaking the BIG tasks down into a series of smaller things can be immensely productive.
Keeping a planner or to-do list is always a good idea. Admittedly, not everyone finds planners and organizers easy towork with; watching a planner fill up or a list lengthen can themselves be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, which
can have the opposite effect on your ability to plan and prioritize. Still, try to develop some sort of system of tracking.
Establish your goals early based on your department requirements for degree progression and other commitments
you have, such as teaching, other jobs, and/or caregiving. And be prepared to adjust your goals as things shift, but
always maintain a plan to work from.
Find your best conditions for work. Before you begin working on your system of tracking and organizing, consider:
Where best do you work? Take seriously how your physical environment and comfort help your focus. How do you
work? You may need to create a designated workstation at home, with a well-lit area with a comfortable chair andample desk space that will not get cluttered easily, or you may need to leave home to get work done. Do you work
best with groups or solo? If it’s the former, begin organizing work groups for writing, grading, or reading with cohortmembers. Find work partners who will keep you accountable, but also who will offer you grace when you need it.
Writing groups can be particularly helpful when you begin work on your dissertation.
Share your work. When working on a dissertation—indeed, many kinds of intellectual and creative projects—it’stempting to hold on to writing for longer than necessary. Many of us want to make our work just a little bit better andmay even feel reluctant to show it to others. Resist this urge toward perfectionism and develop a practice of sharing
your work—with members of your writing group or trusted faculty, in addition to your advisor—to get the kind of
feedback that will make your work better and will help you become a better writer.

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Keep good records. This may seem self-evident, but (too) many tears have been shed over invaluable, lost work; ask
any graduate student in your program. How you develop this practice matters. Develop a system of filing and storage,
which could be folders by content, term, year, etc. Save the syllabi from your graduate seminars. These can help you
plan your own classes, but more importantly, texts from seminar reading lists will most likely end up on bibliographies
for comprehensive exams and dissertations. When you are preparing for your exams (if you have exams), revisit thesesyllabi and start building your reading list. For easier reference, save your seminar papers by topic or theme. Save thesyllabi for the classes you teach, so you don’t have to start from scratch each semester. You may want to start ashared drive with your cohort members where you can draw on each other's pedagogical strengths when you needto. Save your documents in multiple places and save your work as you go. This cannot be overstated. Most likely, youruniversity will offer a cloud server for storage. Use that space in addition to your device storage and free online cloudservices that track versions, such as Google or One Drive. Finally, if you teach, save important communications withstudents. In maintaining your records, be selective and judicious. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with data andinformation. Outside of your “organized” files, keep an “overflow” file for miscellany.
As you accomplish your tasks and move through to-do lists, celebrate your milestones, whether large or small. Assessyour achievements in the contexts of personal and professional goals you have set for yourself. Communicate withyour advisor and professors if you are struggling to stay on top of your various commitments.

Maintaining Momentum and Well-Being
One of the central challenges of graduate school (and, to be honest, many other kinds of work) is the question of how
you will meet the intensity of particular tasks—papers, conference presentations, grading—while sustaining yourenergy output over time. Lots of deadlines and the pressure to succeed (which is often both externally imposed andinternally generated) can lead us to think that superhuman efforts are the only answer. As well, many of us feel
personally and ethically drawn to our work, which can compel us to throw ourselves into it. But being superhuman isneither realistic nor healthy. Over time, most of us will pay the price, and without attention to our quality of life andwell-being, exhaustion and stress can erode psychological and physical health. Learn how to draw boundaries, andremember to have fun. The importance of maintaining the capacity for a life outside of graduate school cannot be
overstated.
Here are a few suggestions that have helped others during their doctoral work:
1. Maintain perspective. The experience of getting a PhD will transform you. It is a protracted process that very muchalters your relationship to time. Milestones to completion are months and years apart, and so it can becomechallenging to stay focused, interested, energized, and enthusiastic. The sense that you have stalled, doubting
yourself and your abilities, or feelings of inadequacy are valid and can make you feel as though you are not worthy ofthe opportunity you have earned. Acknowledge those feelings—you are not alone—and keep moving forward.
Remember that you are making an investment, both in terms of time and resources, in yourself and your future.
2. Prioritize your mental health. Some programs have begun to focus more on the mental health and well-being of
graduate students; discussions across institutions have been spearheaded by organizations such as the Council for
Graduate Students (CGS), which published a report on graduate student mental health in 2021. Consider sharing
these resources with your cohort, faculty, and administrators in your program, particularly if the support you needlags behind what is provided and recommended more broadly. Prioritizing your health and well-being is a long-termproject that requires being aware and mindful of yourself in the present moment, as well as looking past immediate
deadlines and pressures to the future.
3. Build relationships. Thinking about the longer term can also help bring into focus the importance of building
relationships. While they take time to build, they can provide you with sustenance and support over time. Think interms of mentors or models, and networks or cohorts. Many scholarly societies have opportunities to sign up for
mentoring as well as interest groups and graduate student caucuses that you can join; explore the possibilities.
Remember to broaden your view to take in what and who is around you; while focused work has a place in graduate
school, so does reaching out.

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4. Define your goals. Determine what your goals are relative to your department timelines and milestones. In yourplanning, as best as possible, lead the direction of your research project. This means choosing a topic about which you
will stay curious and motivated. The purpose of your PhD is to refine your research skills. It is, effectively, thebeginning of your life as a researcher, not the end. You are not required to do/make something that has never been
done before. At the most, you will excel by making an advancement or contribution to something previously
established in your field.
Your ability to stay on track and stay motivated relies on several factors:
1. Systems of support
Institutional
When choosing an advisor, look for someone who:-

demonstrates compatibility with you, however you define compatibility. At the very least, find someone you
feel comfortable having frank and open conversations with, and who will make the time to talk with you (andnot only about your work).
exhibits ethics in their posture toward work, the way they interact with others, and their respect for you inspite of the power differential.
demonstrates care and concern for you as a person. You don’t have to be best friends, but this person should
understand that you are an individual with a whole life beyond the scope of your work relationship.
shows shared enthusiasm for your work. This will be important when your own enthusiasm wanes.
is positioned to prepare you for a range of career pathways and is willing to advocate on behalf of yourpostdoctoral job search, regardless of whether this is in the academy or other settings—nonprofit,
government, business, etc.
has a strong network representative of your areas of interest.
has a strong record of supervising others, which may mean they keep tabs on their students and have seen
many through to successful completion.

Beyond the person you choose to supervise your work, think about diversifying your academic mentor system toinclude faculty from other departments and academic units on campus. Not all mentors can advise you on everything;
think about mentorship in terms of a web of support.
Personal
Making time for people and activities outside of the PhD is vital for long-term success. Maintain contact andrelationships with people outside of academia and continue to pursue hobbies and interests not related to yourresearch. These relationships can help you stay grounded and remember that life doesn’t begin and end with youracademic work. Being reminded that your life is full otherwise helps you not to feel overwhelmed by the day-to-day.
Relationships connected to your academic training can also be vital. Be sure to stay connected with cohort members.
Think of different cohorts you belong to, not just people you entered the program with. Think about cohort members
in seminars, student organizations, teacher training, etc. Engage with other faculty, particularly from otherdepartments, programs, and schools, when possible. It can be helpful to have other perspectives on how to navigate
academic spaces by people who may share other similarities with you: membership in affinity groups or sharing

similar backgrounds, social locations, religious affiliations, domestic situations, etc. Most importantly, don’t limit
yourself to the people immediately around you.
2. Goal-setting
Sketch out timelines for small projects that lead into large projects. It is vitally important to treat each of these small
tasks as significant milestones. Moving through checklists of even minor achievements creates the feeling of making
progress. That in itself can feed the positive perception that you are accomplishing what you need to in order to move
forward.

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When setting goals, focus on factors you have control over. Focus on the tasks and work you must do. Worrying about
things beyond your control can be anxiety-inducing and can have a negative effect on your ability to stay on task.

Take a break before you arrive at burnout. Time and space away from your work at intervals or when necessary does
a lot to help you gain perspective and to realign yourself with your goals. Consider sharing resources about avoiding
burnout and protecting one’s mental health.

Career Planning and Future Thinking
One of the largest worries for both students and faculty is work after the PhD. Many graduate students enter doctoral
programs with the ambition of becoming tenure-track faculty, but it is essential to remain open to using yourdeveloping talents as an innovative researcher in a variety of sectors, including nonprofit, government, and businesssettings, as well as within the academy. Some students opt to expand their consideration of postdoctoral work whenentering graduate school, or part-way through their programs. This is not a reflection on the quality of work thesegraduates produce or their intellectual acumen. Some decide that teaching is not for them and want to do work thatis more community-focused, or just move in a different direction altogether. Others reevaluate in light of thecontracting faculty job market, the reliance on contingent labor, and declines in institutional and state funding(particularly for the humanities and humanities-adjacent fields). Thus, even before you begin your PhD studies, whenselecting a program, gather as much information as you can on their placement history and record. Where do
students who graduate from these programs typically end up? Can you get a sense of what alumni networks andsupports exist for when you’re ready to make your own future moves? Observe employment trends relevant to yourprogram, identify emerging patterns in your field, and find new and interesting ways to communicate your work.
Effective career planning and future thinking requires a certain degree of self-awareness and intentionality. It will be
helpful for you to expand your understanding of the different career options that are available to you and to keep
options open as you begin to explore and cultivate your professional networks accordingly.
Keep in mind that faculty attitudes toward nonprofit, government, and business fields can vary widely. You may
encounter negative attitudes from some faculty members. Others may view a wide array of careers as meaningful,but they may tell you they are unable to help you pursue such prospects, because they themselves have traveled an
academic career pathway. This is an opportunity for you to work with your faculty guides and expand their horizons,and to seek out faculty and staff who are better positioned to assist you in your search. (Be aware that some societies
have played an active role in supporting PhD programs and faculty members to expand the training and resources
they give to their graduate students; one excellent example is MLA’s toolkit, Doctoral Student Career Planning.)
Remember that only you can determine what “success” means to you as an individual, and how best to balance yourneeds for intellectual development and growth with your needs for professionalization, economic security, and wellbeing, on top of other caregiving responsibilities you may have.
The Society for Classical Studies has an excellent discussion of the differences between professional and intellectual
outcomes for graduate students; while written for classicists, it applies more widely. Consult the scholarly society or
professional organization for your field or subfield for suggestions about how to think about careers; many
associations have excellent resources for graduate students, as well as opportunities for networking and mentoring.
For example, the National Council on Public History has an excellent guide with an entire section (“Thriving as PublicHistory Graduate Students”) with suggestions for how to approach course selection and professional development fora wide range of careers; while specific to public historians, many of the suggestions can be adapted to other fields.
To prepare for any job market, be sure to:-

Recognize the difference between a CV and a resume. Also recognize that the canonical version of both ofthese documents will have to be tailored to specific opportunities when the time comes.
Update your CV or resume every semester (but save old versions in case “old” details become relevant again).
For academic settings, attend workshops on how to write your teaching statement, how to develop yourteaching portfolio, and how to develop supplemental statements (DEI, etc.).
Save/begin to collate your student teaching assessments.
Begin to collect (on a Google Doc, etc.) a portfolio of resources on where to search for jobs when the timecomes.
For nonprofit, government, and business settings, become familiar with the expectations regarding resumes
and work samples associated with each, and build your portfolio accordingly.

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To gain insights on how to prepare for the academic job market:-

Attend mock job talks that may be hosted for graduates from your department.
Volunteer to be part of department job search committees to get an idea of what successful application
packets look like.
Review candidates’ letters, CVs, teaching portfolios, diversity statements, etc.
Observe the mechanism of department deliberations, and how job talks are assessed.
Ask questions about processes that are unclear to you.

To gain insights on how to prepare for nonprofit, government, and business job markets:-

Identify graduates of your program who have pursued careers in nonprofit, government, and business sectors
with whom you can network. They have all been where you are now, and will generally be quite generous
with their time and insights.
Also identify people who started in your program and then changed their plans. They have also been where
you are now, and networking with them can help you develop adaptive coping tactics.
Seek out fellowships that may be offered by your university in university research centers, teaching centers,
university libraries, university art galleries, writing centers, and multicultural centers.
Seek out internship opportunities that may be offered with local organizations, cultural institutions,businesses, and the like.
Consider volunteer work as a way to gain experience. For example, working with nonprofits can help you gain
leadership and program management skills.

Communicate your needs with your advisor and committee members as they arise—be honest, and be prepared tohave an informed conversation. Do your research on potential fields of interest. The point in having this conversation
is to express your need for support in your decisions and to find out the ways your advisor may be able to help you topursue this. Can they help you to expand your network? Can they put you in touch with past graduates who havetaken similar paths? If they don’t know anyone, can they connect you to someone who does? Are they at allinterested in learning what you are likely to find out?
It’s OK to change your future goals as your knowledge about what is possible shifts! Just craft and follow a blueprint.
Above all, trust yourself and your instincts as you travel your own path and make decisions about which way to go
when you come to a crossroads.
Best wishes!
We welcome feedback and suggestions from all readers. Contact us at president@acls.org.

Appendix: Resources
GeneralCassuto, Leonard and Robert Weisbuch, The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education, Johns Hopkins UP,
2021.
Graduate school
Koenigsknecht, Theresa et al., The Public History Navigator: How to Choose and Thrive in a Graduate Public History
Program, National Council on Public History (2015, 2018): https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Public-HistoryNavigator-2015-Web.pdf

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Lorentz ii, Kevin G., et al., Editors. Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond. American Political Science
Association (2002): https://apsanet.org/gradschool
Paulas, John, “Introduction,” Careers for Classicists: Graduate Student Edition, Society for Classical Studies (2018):
https://classicalstudies.org/book/careers-classicists-graduate-student-edition/general-introduction
Mental healthCouncil of Graduate Schools, Supporting Graduate Student Mental Health and Well-being: Evidence-Informed
Recommendations for the Graduate Community (2021):
https://legacy.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_JED_Grad%20Student%20Mental%20Health%20Report.pdf
PhD research and the dissertation
Next-Generation Dissertations: New approaches to humanities scholarship: https://nextgendiss.hcommons.org/
Public scholarship
American Anthropological Association, “Guidelines for Tenure and Promotion Review: Communicating Public
Scholarship in Anthropology,” (May 1, 2017): AAA Guidelines TP Communicating Forms of Public Anthropology.pdf
American Historical Association, “Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship” (Jan. 25, 2023):
https://www.historians.org/definitions
Modern Language Association, “Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Humanities Scholarship in Language andLiterature Programs” (Aug. 2022), https://www.mla.org/content/download/187094/file/Guidelines-Evaluating-PublicHumanities.pdf
Digital scholarship
Middle East Studies Association, “Guidelines for Evaluating Digital Scholarship”: https://mesana.org/resources-andopportunities/guidelines-for-evaluating-digital-scholarship
Ossom-Williamson, Pease and Kenton Rambsy, The Data Notebook, Mavs Open Press,
https://uta.pressbooks.pub/datanotebook/
CareerAmerican Council of Learned Societies, “Beyond the Academy: Pathways to Non-Academic Careers for PhDs” (May 17,2022): https://www.acls.org/resources/beyond-the-academy-pathways-to-non-academic-careers-for-phds/
Modern Language Association/Connected Academics, “Doctoral Student Career Planning” (May 2018):
https://connect.mla.hcommons.org/files/2017/05/Doctoral-Student-Career-Planning-May-2018.pdf

About ACLSThe American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) was founded in 1919 by representatives of 10 academic societies torepresent the United States in a new international federation that aimed to strengthen humanistic scholarship. Today,
ACLS remains committed to its original mission to strengthen and advance humanistic scholarship and uphold thecore belief that knowledge is a public good.
Over the past century, ACLS has fulfilled that mission in various ways: by providing financial support to thousands of
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outstanding scholars in the form of fellowships and grants; by convening working groups and commissions aroundemerging fields, from African studies in the 1930s to digital humanities in the early 2000s and today; and by
establishing networks and programs that strengthen the administrative infrastructure of the humanities andinterpretive social sciences, such as the 42-member Research University Consortium and the Mellon Foundationfunded Leadership Institute for a New Academy in 2022.

Acknowledgments
This guide was authored by Heather Hewett and Treviene Harris, with substantive input and guidance at every step of
the way from ACLS President Joy Connolly. We wish to give special thanks for the helpful additions made by ACLS staff
members Derisa Grant and Jessica Taylor as well as the careful reading and suggestions provided by Lynnette Cook,
Edward Liebow, and Steven R. Smith. Finally, thanks to the ACLS communications team Heather Mangrum and Anna
Polovick Waggy for their support and expertise.