Description
The ACH invites applications to participate in a one-year mentorship program for graduate students interested in digital humanities work in and around the academy, including libraries, archives, museums, teaching, and research.
This program will bring together a cohort of 5-10 Masters and PhD students interested in the digital humanities for a one-year mentorship program that will provide participants with community building, professional development, and opportunities to help envision the future of mentorship at the ACH.
This program is only open to current students. Early career scholars who have earned their PhDs are encouraged to participate in other ACH mentorship initiatives, including the new mentorship channel on the DH Slack.
To apply: email a one-page cover letter and a two-page resume to halperta@gmail.com, subject: ACH Mentorship Working Group Application. Deadline: October 26, 2020. Details below.
Goals
This working group will bring together a cohort of 5-10 graduate students interested in the digital humanities for a one-year mentorship program. The program has two goals.
Goal 1
First, working group participants will become part of a cohort of DH practitioners interested in horizontal mentorship – that is, in building community and supporting one another across various programmatic and professional challenges. The cohort will also have the opportunity to build relationships with DH professionals from across the field. We envision this as a program that will empower students to build their own futures, particularly where institutional structures have failed to provide support.
Goal 2
Second, the group will work together to propose a comprehensive mentorship program for the Association for Computers in the Humanities. During a time of crisis, we are looking for students on the front lines of the profession to lead us in developing an approach to mentorship that is responsive to the inequities of our disciplines, the inadequacies of our training programs, and the crisis in our economy. Students will work closely with the ACH mentorship subcommittee to develop a plan that will help ACH support students in response to the changing educational and work environment.
Outcomes
Participation in this program is unpaid. Outcomes of this program that we expect will directly benefit participants include:
- relationship-building with mid-career DH professionals
- byline credit for a mentorship proposal that will be published by the ACH,
- the chance to participate in a special panel on mentorship at the ACH biannual conference
- CV credit for participating in a working group formally endorsed by the ACH.
Commitment
Participants in the ACH mentorship working group will be expected to commit to the following:
- Be an active member in the group for nine months (November 2020 – July 2021)
- Participate in 6-8 virtual workshops focused on professional development and community building.
- Collaborate to author a mentorship plan for the Association for Computers in the Humanities.
- Maintain communication through online conversation channels such as Slack.
- Adhere to a collectively-developed code of conduct.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Mentorship programs, even with the best intentions, often uphold whiteness and fail to provide lasting pathways to careers for BIPOC, LGBTQ, women, and people with disabilities. One of the goals of the ACH mentorship program is to create an anti-racist agenda that takes into consideration how race is formed and constructed, and the ways that professionalization engages in racecraft and expects white middle-class conformity.
With a focus on marginalized and minoritized identities in the cohort of mentees and mentors in our cohort, we expect this program to confront implicit biases in workplaces and in the field of digital humanities, with every participant trained in the ethics of care and active listening. Rather than re-establishing the traditional hierarchical structure of mentorship programs, with mentors placed in a higher position than mentees, this program recognizes that the cohort of mentees also has expertise and knowledge to contribute and purposely designs structures to support and develop this knowledge and expertise through processes and tangible products.
Even with these intentions, we expect missteps and ignorances will happen and one of the first steps of the cohort will be to develop a code of conduct, safe and anonymous methods of reporting, and a workflow for mediation when appropriate.
How to apply
To apply: email a one-page cover letter and a two-page resume to halperta@gmail.com, subject: ACH Mentorship Working Group Application. Deadline: October 26, 2020.
Cover letters should be addressed to Hannah Alpert-Abrams and Caitlin Pollock.
In your cover letter, please provide the following information:
- Your current institution & position (i.e. phd candidate in Spanish at UNT; first-year MLIS student at Simmons University)
- A brief description of how you hope this program will help you pursue your career goals (or figure out what those are)
- A brief description of your background in digital humanities
- A brief explanation of what you hope to contribute to the ACH’s mission to develop better professionalization and mentorship services for digital humanists
In your resume, we will be looking for information about your experience with or interest in digital humanities, as well as your interest in working collaboratively. Note that we are looking for participants at all stages of their education, so a lack of experience will not be disqualifying.
Here are some things you might include:
- Where you have studied and what degrees you have earned or are earning.
- The title of your dissertation or thesis (if you have one).
- Any digital humanities projects you have worked on or participated in.
- Any digital humanities conferences you have attended or talks you have given.
- Any digital humanities training you have received, including coursework, summer programs, etc.
- Any experience you have doing service work for your institution or a scholarly society, such as serving on a graduate student committee, participating in your union, or taking part in a working group.
- Any past work experience, including work outside of or pre-dating your current degree program, that is relevant to digital and public humanities.