Professional Development ProgramHI Professional Development Program (PDP)
Professional Development Program
A humanities education develops strong interpersonal and effective communication abilities, the ability to navigate uncertainty and nuance while analyzing complex information about people, events, and texts; skills in problem-solving and conducting independent research; and encourages self-reflection, ethical reasoning, intercultural awareness, and a clearer understanding of personal values. The humanities can also emphasize the intellectual and scholarly work around collaborating with others to address shared challenges, project coordination, and the ability to transfer these essential humanities skills to new situations.
The HI Professional Development Program is committed to the formation of humanities scholars and their professional acculturation within and beyond academia and the classroom. PDP emphasizes the process and practices of humanities research and includes workshops on case statements or writing for non-profit organizations, conducting interviews or oral histories, grant writing and research, literature reviews, logic modeling, project management, and survey design, among other topics.
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CONNECT+Humanities
The CONNECT+Humanities program is a collaboration between the Humanities Institute and the CONNECT program in UT Graduate School’s Office of Career and Life Services.
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Professional Development Workshops
Workshops supporting graduate students as they prepare for their future careers.
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Modern Language Association
MLA Strategic Partnership Network membership extends the resources of the Modern Language Association to COLA departments and programs.
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Spring 2026 Program
Grant Writing Workshop
February 18th, 2026
This workshop will introduce participants to strategies and resources for selecting available funding opportunities and writing better grants and fellowship applications.
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Producing Literary Exhibitions
March 9th, 2026 and August 17, 2026
This two-session workshop will reflect on the production of the summer 2026 Harry Ransom Center exhibition “The Worlds of Gertrude Stein,” curated by Dr Sophie Oliver (University of Liverpool). Emerging from Stein’s ‘personal effects’ collection at the HRC, the exhibition aims to ask questions about the value of such objects – clothing, stationery and other domestic items – in representing literary lives and work. Contributing both to the development of ‘The Worlds of Gertrude Stein’ and to a growing body of research on literary exhibitions (more often called ‘library exhibitions’ or ‘archival exhibitions’), this two-part workshop led by Dr Oliver will consider what such exhibits can do with their objects.
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Oral Histories
March 30th, 2026
This workshop guides participants through the full lifecycle of an oral history project, from shaping a clear purpose and selecting an appropriate archive to ethically collecting, preserving, and sharing interviews. Participants will learn best practices for community outreach, building trust, and reflecting on positionality and power, while grounding their work in Oral History Association principles, consent, and institutional requirements such as IRB. The session covers practical strategies for preparing and conducting trauma-informed interviews, managing documentation and metadata, ensuring high-quality recordings, and responsibly archiving interviews and related materials for long-term stewardship. Finally, the workshop explores meaningful dissemination, including publishing considerations, public platforms, educational uses, and ways to return oral histories to the communities that made them possible.
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Project Management
April 2026
This workshop equips participants with practical tools for leading collaborative projects with clarity, efficiency, and shared expectations. Through interactive sessions, participants will learn how to set communication norms, define roles and responsibilities, manage tasks and timelines, and support effective teamwork across different levels (PIs, project managers, graduate students, and undergraduates). By the end of the training, participants will produce a mini project charter and a backwards-designed project roadmap, providing a clear framework for decision-making, quality control, progress monitoring, and navigating challenges throughout the project lifecycle.
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