Note: please register for any part of the Symposium you plan on attending in person, so that we can make catering arrangements as needed.
Welcome
Land Acknowledgement
Tuesday, September 13
9:00-9:30am – Breakfast and Welcome: University Club Ballroom B
9:45-11:30am – Making the Humanities Public Workshop
11:45am-1:15pm – Lunch and Humanities Engage Awardee Poster Session & Demonstration
1:30-2:45pm – Host Site Roundtable
3:00-4:30pm – Alumni Roundtable
Wednesday, September 14
9:00-10:30am – Breakfast & Versatile Humanities Workshop
10:45am-12:00pm – Curricular & Dissertation Innovation Presentation & Demonstration
12:00-1:15pm – Lunch: University Club Ballroom B
1:30-2:45pm – Alumni Roundtable
3:00pm – Closing Remarks
Welcome!
Humanities Engage fosters a culture change in how arts and humanities departments, faculty, and doctoral students in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences envisage the broader importance of humanities Ph.D.s and the societal impact of humanistic training. This project was developed with generous support from the Mellon Foundation.
To make the full spectrum of postdoctoral humanistic careers visible, valued, and viable, we are committed to
- understanding Ph.D. students’ career objectives and the actual career outcomes of doctoral alumni
- supporting all doctoral students as they continuously evaluate their educational and professional goals, skills, and needs, and pursue flexible pathways toward timely completion of degrees
- emphasizing the overlaps between superb preparation for humanists’ careers within and beyond academia
- improving the quality of postdoctoral outcomes across sectors as well as increasing completion rates of diverse cohorts.
As we train the next generation of scholar-teacher-leaders within and beyond the classroom and academy, we seek to make the humanities more fully integral to tackling the complex challenges facing an interconnected yet divided world.
Funding through this Mellon grant supports the design and implementation of discipline-based and interdisciplinary curricular changes across humanities doctoral programs, an ambitious immersive fellowship program across non-profit, public, and corporate sectors, and modernizing the culture of doctoral advising and mentoring.
Land Acknowledgement
We recognize that the University of Pittsburgh occupies the ancestral land of the Adena culture, Hopewell culture, and Monongahela peoples, who were later joined by refugees of other tribes (including the Delaware, Shawnee, and Haudenosaunee), driven here from their homelands by colonizers. We honor these traditional Native inhabitants of this place and uplift their historic, unique, and enduring relationship with this land, which is their ancestral territory. We pay our respects to their Elders and their past, present, and future people, community, and culture. While we cannot change the past, we commit to continued gratitude for the gifts of nature, along with ongoing respect, care, and stewardship of the land, each other, and future generations.
Tuesday, September 13
9:45-11:30am
Making the Humanities Public Workshop
University Club Ballroom B
This workshop will engage the concept and purpose of the public humanities from two angles: public perception and response to our academic work, and the process of public-facing project development. Participants will complete a brief survey before the workshop and after a discussion will collaborate in small groups. Upon completing this workshop, participants will be more prepared to engage with non-academic audiences in discussions of their field and research and/or have the seed of a viable public-facing project proposal.
Please complete this survey before the workshop:
https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6wZeV1lZLKXZYkC
Led by
Jamilah Ducar, Director of Community Engagement
Hannah Johnson, Associate Professor of English
Melissa Lenos, Senior Director of Graduate Advising & Engagement for the Humanities
Alex J. Taylor, Associate Professor of History of Art & Architecture
Tuesday, September 13
11:45-1:15pm
Lunch and Humanities Engage Awardee Poster Session & Demonstration
University Club Ballroom B
(some presentations available remotely; you must register at Pi.tt/HESymposium for access)
Humanities Engage graduate student funding awardees from diverse departments will present project work completed and be available for informal discussion.
Featuring:
Amanda Awanjo (English)
Samuel Boateng (Music)
Sean Nonnenmacher (Linguistics)
Nozomi Saito (English)
Leonardo Solano Moraga (Hispanic Languages & Literatures)
Hannah Standiford (Music)
Tuesday, September 13
1:30-2:45pm – Host Site Roundtable
University Club Ballroom B
(available remotely; you must register at Pi.tt/HESymposium for access)
On- and off-campus sites that have hosted our doctoral students for immersive fellowships will discuss the experience, including integrating doctoral staff into non-academic settings, advice for students on approaching organizations for internships or work, and more. Moderated by Jonathan Woon, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Featuring:
Ryan Champagne (he/him) is the Assistant Director for Research Development at the University of Pittsburgh. His team develops and shares resources to support the Pitt community in its strategizing and developing competitive proposal for external funding. He earned his Masters of Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh.
Giancarlo Fiorella of Bellingcat
Erin Perry of Legacy Arts Project
Kirsten Strayer (she/her) is Visiting Instructor and the Program Coordinator for the ASC film programming series SCREENSHOT:ASIA. Dr. Strayer has worked on several film festivals and screening programs, including the Silk Screen Film Festival in Pittsburgh and the Imagine Science Film Festival in New York/Abu Dhabi. She also teaches the “Film Festivals and Industry” course in the Film and Media Studies program.
Stephanie Romero (she/her), Founder and Executive Director of Awaken Pittsburgh, is an educator with 20+ years of experience teaching elementary, middle school, high school and college students. She has been a meditator and mindfulness practitioner for more than 15 years. In 2013, seeking to bring others the same benefits she was experiencing, Stephanie was trained in the Path of Freedom Mindfulness Curriculum, which she delivered through the HOPE pre-release program in the Allegheny County Jail. Stephanie’s dissertation was the culmination of three years of research into mindfulness in education. She is a member of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Mindfulness and Consciousness Studies.
Tuesday, September 13
3:00-4:30pm – Alumni Roundtable
University Club Ballroom B
(available remotely; you must register at Pi.tt/HESymposium for access)
Alumni from humanities departments at the University of Pittsburgh will discuss their career trajectory and preparation, effective networking, and more. Moderated by Deborah Danuser (Communication).
Dr. Patoimbasba Nikiema (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies / Global Black and Afropean Studies at the University of Miami. He received a master in French and a certificate in University teaching at West Virginia University, and a PhD in French and Francophone Studies as well as a doctoral certificate in Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies at Pitt. Patoimbasba Nikiema serves as the President of the Francophone Caucus of the African Literature Association (FRACALA).
Dr. Deirdre O’Rourke (she/her) holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Pittsburgh with doctoral certificates in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She is Grants Officer at Trocaire College in Buffalo, New York where she oversees pre- and post-award processes for corporate, foundation, and government awards. She also sits on the President's Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Access Committee. Previous experience includes nonprofit program coordination, grant writing, and grants management.
Dr. Katherine Parker (she/her) graduated from Pitt with a PhD in History in 2016. A specialist in the history of the book, maps and mapping, and Pacific exploration, she is the Research Officer at Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. She also serves as the Editor of Imago Mundi: The International Journal for the History of Cartography and as the Administrative Editor of the Hakluyt Society. Based in London, she is a Teaching Associate at Queen Mary University of London.
Dr. Alyssa Quintanilla (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the United States Naval Academy. She received her MA in English from the University of Colorado and a PhD in Critical and Cultural Studies from the Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021. She is also the creator of Vistas de la Frontera a digital memorial for migrants who have died in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
Dr. Jamsheed Siyar (he/him) got his BA in Philosophy and German at Tufts University. He then completed his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus on Kantian ethics. After teaching stints at Pitt and the College of Wooster, Jamsheed has pursued a career in the private sector. He currently works as a product manager in the Global Tech department at Sony Music. Jamsheed lives in New York City.
Wednesday, September 14
9:00-10:30am – Breakfast & Versatile Humanities Workshop
University Club Ballroom B
Networking and Contact-Building Inside and Outside of the Academy
In this workshop, we’ll collaborate to hone our networking, interviewing, and contact-building skills to explore these and other opportunities for expanding our intellectual and professional pathways.
Led by Alyson Kavalukas, Interim Assistant Director, Career Center
Alyson joined the Career Center staff in 2012 and has been with the University since 2004. She has lived in Pittsburgh, Miami, Tampa, New York City and Lyon, France, with professional experience in a variety of industries. Alyson has two degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, a Bachelor of Arts in French and a Masters of Public Policy and Management from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Hail to Pitt!
Wednesday, September 14
10:45am-12:00pm – Curricular & Dissertation Innovation Presentation & Demonstration
University Club Ballroom B
some presentations available remotely; you must register at Pi.tt/HESymposium for access
Wednesday, September 14
1:30-2:45pm –– Alumni Roundtable
University Club Ballroom B
available remotely; you must register at Pi.tt/HESymposium for access
Dr. Matt Aelmore (he/him) is a non-profit professional currently serving as the Grant Programs Coordinator at Mid-America Arts Alliance (Kansas City, MO) where he administers the Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Program, a national program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts that funds arts engagements benefitting military connected communities. Matt is also an accomplished musician whose collaborators include funk legend Betty Davis and Indonesian pop icon Rhoma Irama. 
Dr. Charles Athanasopoulos (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Gonzaga University. His research interests include Black studies, activism, racial icons, street art, and media studies. His dissertation, Rhetorics of Complete Disorder in Post-Ferguson America, develops an orientation to the anti/Black world called Black iconoclasm which identifies how the “racial iconography” of Western Man (the social codes of race, gender, class, and sexuality) continues to constrict Black radical imagination in the contemporary era.
Dr. Beach Gray (he/him) works at the U.S. Department of State, contracting for Accenture Federal Services. Beach earned a BA in Russian Studies from Williams College in 2007 and an Interdisciplinary PhD in Film Studies through the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh in 2016. Beach has published in Cinemasaurus: Russian Film in Contemporary Context, Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2, KinoKultura, and for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Ben Naismith (he/him) is an experienced professional in the fields of Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, having worked in a variety of roles and contexts around the world. He completed his PhD in Linguistics at Pitt earlier this year, and he currently works as an Assessment Scientist as part of the Duolingo English Test research team. His research interests include second language acquisition (especially vocabulary), language assessment, TESOL, and corpus linguistics. 
Dr. Kylie Seltzer (she/her) is a researcher, educator, and community builder whose work focuses on dismantling white supremacy and creating a more just world. As the Research Strategist at Common Cause Consultants, she synthesizes qualitative and quantitative data to find equitable solutions for communities, nonprofits, and foundations. An award-winning scholar and teacher, she uses her humanistic training and expertise to solve the urgent inequities that plague Pittsburgh’s residents.