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career planning

The Next Step in the Humanities “Counterattack” is “Translation”

John Fea   |  October 3, 2017

In my book Why Study History: A Historical Introduction I wrote: But there are also larger issues that history teachers and professors, and school and college administrators, must confront if they want to be effective career counselors.  For example, we must...

Where John Kasich Is Wrong About Job Preparation

John Fea   |  March 30, 2016

In last night’s CNN GOP Town Hall meeting, John Kasich had some advice for young people preparing for the work force.  Here is what he said: And one final thing: workforce development.  We have got to begin to teach our...

Andrew Henry: Careers Beyond the Academy: Another Plan A

John Fea   |  November 22, 2015 Leave a Comment

Andrew Henry is back, reporting from the floor of the American Academy of Religion meeting in Atlanta.  See his previous post here.–JF Careers Beyond the Academy: Another Plan A Lest I rehearse a tired refrain, I’ll simply say: Tenure-track positions […]

Virtual Office Hours: Spring 2015 – Episode 11

John Fea   |  April 14, 2015

Messiah College : A New Kind of History Department Featuring Director of Messiah College Career and Professional Development Center Christina Hanson [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPLNXXreHO4]...

A Busy Week in the Messiah College History Department

John Fea   |  October 22, 2014

Philip Deloria will deliver the 2014 American Democracy Lecture We in the Messiah College History Department try to give our students an array of opportunities to learn outside of the classroom.  Last Spring our students studying digital history and Pennsylvania...

Why Framing College as a Return on Investment is “Wrongheaded”

John Fea   |  March 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Gene Block, the chancellor of UCLA, criticizes Barack Obama’s “College Scorecard” and Marco Rubio and Ron Weyden’s Students Right to Know Before You Go Act.  While post-college salaries are important, they do not account for college graduates who want to […]

Business Professor: Major in the Liberal Arts

John Fea   |  February 18, 2013

Hamilton Nolan’s post at The Gawker is a little too uncharitable toward undergraduate business majors for my taste, but it does make sense.  Here is a taste: Over in Israel, the land of truth, Haaretz reports that Shmuel Ellis—a business...

What Was Your Favorite “Useless Class?”

John Fea   |  November 15, 2012

Is “favorite useless class” an oxymoron?  No.  Katherine Brooks explains in a piece called “The Hidden Gem in a Liberal Arts Education.”  Here is a taste: As a career center director, I often ask alumni about their job titles, employers...

Five Myths About College Majors

John Fea   |  July 31, 2012

College majors are overrated.  I recently heard one scholar say that the emergence of the academic major in the early 20th century “destroyed” American higher education.  With this in mind, here are some common myths about academic majors, courtesy of...

A Physician Defends the Liberal Arts

John Fea   |  July 6, 2012

Over at The Edge of the American West, Eric Rauchway publishes an e-mail from one his readers.  Great stuff: I do feel discouraged by this recent onslaught against the liberal arts. I appreciate and applaud the light you and your...

Rethinking Success Links

John Fea   |  April 13, 2012

I stopped tweeting and blogging the Rethinking Success conference this morning.  (See blog posts here and Twitter posts at either #rethinkingsuccess or #johnfea1).  But if you want even more news from the conference check out these links: Peter Powers’s twitter...

Rethinking Success at Wake Forest

John Fea   |  April 11, 2012

I have made it to Winston-Salem for the Rethinking Success conference.  I felt right at home listening to Nathan Hatch, a fellow early American historian, open the conference a few minutes ago in his capacity as president of Wake Forest...

Rethinking Success

John Fea   |  April 10, 2012

On Wednesday I am joining several Messiah College colleagues at a conference at Wake Forest University called “Rethinking Success: From Liberal Arts to Careers in the 21st Century.”  According to the conference website, the three day gathering “aims to raise...

A Vision for Undergraduate History Departments

John Fea   |  January 10, 2012

This past weekend’s AHA conference has confirmed much of what I had already been thinking about regarding how an undergraduate history major should function in light of the changes taking place in the historical profession. Earlier today I linked to...

Do America’s Top History Departments Need to Rethink How they Train Historians?

John Fea   |  January 9, 2012

Yes. This seemed to be the overwhelming sentiment at this year’s annual American Historical Association meeting in Chicago.  Inside Higher Ed reports on Thomas Bender’s plenary talk: “Where Did We Go Wrong?: The Past and Prospects for the History Profession. ...

Community Colleges Are Liberal Arts Colleges

John Fea   |  July 14, 2011

While we normally think of community colleges and junior colleges as places where students go for vocational training and hands-on skills, Rob Jenkins, an English professor at Georgia-Perimeter College in Georgia, reminds us that most students who transfer from a...

More Thoughts on Finding Work for History Majors

John Fea   |  May 4, 2011

Gabe Loiacono, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and a reader of this blog, has challenged us to think about how we as history professors might help our students find jobs. He wants us to move beyond...

More Good Stuff on Non-Academic Careers for Ph.Ds

John Fea   |  April 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

Writing at Inside Higher Ed, Christine Kelly offers advisers of graduate students some advice on advising Ph.Ds who are either not interested in an academic career or cannot land a teaching job in this climate.  She argues that academic advisers […]

The Life of the Mind Outside of the Academy

John Fea   |  April 8, 2011

Writing at Inside Higher Ed, Andrew Taggart proposes that intellectual life, or the pursuit of the life of the mind, does not have to always take place within the bounds of the college or university.  I have been thinking a...

Public History Students: Do An Internship

John Fea   |  December 8, 2010

What are you doing this summer?  What are you doing after graduation?  Do you want to pursue a career as a librarian, archivist, public historian, or museum worker.  Then you need to do an internship. Over at The Beehive, the...

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