Career Symposium for Graduate Students

January 24, 2016

Pugh Hall Ocora

Alumni Symposium:  The Symposium will feature panel presentations by nine alumni of graduate programs in CLAS and the College of the Arts. All nine currently work in alt-ac or non-academic jobs and will talk about how they found their work, what they do, and its relation to their PhD studies. Between panels, there will be break out sessions and time for informal meetings between graduate students and alumni. A reception will follow at the end of the Symposium. The list of the alumni speakers, their bios, and the panel topics are below.  (Three out-of-state speakers will Skype in).

RSVP here.

January 24, 2016

CAREER SYMPOSIUM

SCHEDULE and SPEAKERS

8:45-9:30: Check in, Coffee (Pugh Hall Ocora)

9:30-11:00: Panel 1 (Pugh Hall Ocora): Looking for work outside the academy

Peggy Macdonald (PhD History 2010). Director, Matheson History Museum in Gainesville, Florida. She works with staff and the museum’s board of directors to preserve and interpret the history of Alachua County and surrounding environs. She coordinates exhibitions and public programs, oversees historic preservation projects, supervises grant applications and grant-funded projects, and directs development efforts and writing local history articles for a variety of community publications.

Ryan Peseckas (PhD, Anthropology 2014). Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. He is currently working as a visa adjudicator at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. His next Foreign Service assignment will be at the U.S. Embassy in Riga, Latvia, where he will be the Assistant Public Affairs Officer.

Laurie N. Taylor (PhD, English 2006). Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Florida. Her work focuses on data/digital curation, digital scholarship, and developing socio-technical supports (people, policies, technologies, communities) for scholarly cyberinfrastructure.

11:00-12:30:  Lunch (on your own)

12:45-2:15: Panel 2 (Pugh Hall Ocora): What’s it like working in the real world?

Joseph Beatty, PhD, (alumnus, History, 2014) is Manager of Historical Research and Training at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where he oversees a team of public humanities scholars, including historians, archaeologists, and architectural historians at America’s largest living history museum. This group of researchers works to make the material and intellectual culture of eighteenth-century Virginia accessible to modern audiences through born-digital media, digital preservation, and training to support the Foundation’s educational mission.

Sarah Bleakney (PhD English, 2012). Instructional Designer for the Teaching & Learning Center at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration. She provides instructional design support to graduate and undergraduate faculty. Her current research focuses on supporting active and engaged learning in blended and online learning environments.

Charlie Cummings (MFA Art 2011). Studio artist, teacher and director of the Charlie Cummings Gallery. He has curated over 90 exhibitions and taught many workshops.  He earned his MFA from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL and his BA from Berea College, Berea, KY.  His work is in public and private collections including that of the Crocker Museum and the Dalai Lama.

2:15-2:45: Coffee Break

2:45-4:15: Panel 3 (Pugh Hall Ocora): What makes you special? Skills PhDs bring to the table

Allen Kent (PhD History 2015). Staff Historian at SEARCH Inc (http://searchinc.com). He provides historical context for SEARCH’s archaeological architectural, and maritime projects.  SEARCH works with government agencies, businesses, and private clients to put together surveys of potential historic or culturally significant buildings, roadways, spaces, etc.

Todd Reynolds (PhD English). Political Coordinator for the AFT-Maryland, the state federation for 10 different local unions, including the Baltimore Teachers Union, the Union for Baltimore City Employees, and the Union for Employees for Maryland State Employees. He works to engage membership in the local, state, and federal electoral process. He also oversees the union’s efforts to develop and advance within the legislative process the causes of education and public employee rights.

Jennifer Snyder (PhD, History 2013). Director of Digital Initiatives at the Florida Humanities Council. Currently, she is working on 2 projects – Florida Stories, a free downloadable walking tour for Apple/Android and thinkFlorida, a technology project that connects small town museums across the state.

4:30-6:00: Reception at Keene Flint Library (Keene Flint Library)

This event is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Graduate Coordinators Working Group, with the assistance of the Libraries, the College of the Arts, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, the Departments of Anthropology, Classics, History, English, Religion, Political Sciences.

Short link: http://goo.gl/hjsH4X