How can PhD programs prepare graduate students for future paths beyond academia? This episode explores:

The positive effect on students when they are prepared to graduate with multiple career options.

Why most jobs for graduating students will be located outside of academia.

How students can build support networks outside of their own program.

The importance of graduate student internships.

Taking a broader view of what constitutes a “dissertation,” a “project,” and a career.


Our guest is: Dr. Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli, who is the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis.
Our co-guest is: Anna Valcour (she/her) is currently a Ph. D. student in Musicology at Brandeis University while simultaneously earning her M.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She holds a M.M. in Voice from the University of North Texas, a B.M. in Vocal Performance, and a B.A. in History from Lawrence University. Her research interests include witchcraft and demonology in Lieder, cultic groups and music, vocal pedagogy, representation in opera and its staging, and voice-based analysis. She is currently the Project Lead for the Connected PhD and is also interning with the African and African American Studies for the creation of their newsletter and alumni collective. Last year, she researched insular plainchant as an assistant under Dr. Karen Desmond. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Anna is a professional opera singer. She has been a Resident Artist for the Dallas Opera, Toledo Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, Opera MODO, Ann Arbor Opera, and Main Street Opera.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:


Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safer and More Connected, by Petra Boynton


The Field Guide to Grad School, by Jessica McCrory Calarco


Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School, by Kimberly McKee and Denise Delgado, eds.


Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year, by Katherine Firth. Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone


Putting the Humanities PhD to Work: Thriving in and beyond the Classroom, by Katina Rogers



Imagine PhD, created by the Graduate Career Consortium

The Field Guide to Grad School podcast

This podcast on protecting your wellbeing in graduate school

This podcast on finding good alt-ac jobs

The podcast on dealing with rejection so you can grow your career


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