What does leadership look like for humanities PhDs, and how can doctoral training open doors to various career possibilities?

Join Daniella Sarnoff, PhD and Julianne Gilland, PhD for a conversation about translating PhD skills into meaningful work, pursuing leadership opportunities, and building careers that connect scholarship with broader institutional and community impact. Drawing on their experiences in higher education, research organizations, and cultural institutions, our panelists will share how their doctoral training has shaped their professional journeys and prepared them to lead in roles beyond the traditional faculty path.

Whether you are considering an academic career, exploring opportunities within higher education, or curious about careers beyond academia, this conversation will offer insights into the many ways humanities PhDs can apply their expertise, take on leadership roles, and define professional success on their own terms.

*Stay after the conversation for a reception with light refreshments and an opportunity to connect with our panelists and fellow graduate students.

Featured Panelists:

Daniella Sarnoff, PhD | Director, Global Scholars and Fellowships at Columbia Global

Daniella joined Columbia World Projects in July 2022 after over a decade at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), where she directed the International Dissertation Research Fellowship Program and other programs supporting scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Daniella holds a PhD in European history, specializing in extremist politics in interwar France. Before transitioning into research administration and leadership, she spent four years as an Assistant Professor of History at Xavier University and also taught at Fordham University and New York University. She has published in journals and edited volumes on French fascism, women’s suffrage, and gender and fascism.

Julianne Gilland, PhD | Deputy Director, Colby College Museum of Art.

Julianne is Deputy Director of the Colby College Museum of Art, where she leads collections, exhibitions, and operations teams and museum planning. Before joining the Colby Museum in 2017, she was Curator and then Director of the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, a special collection and archive of US Latinx and Latin American history, arts, and culture. While at UT she co-edited A Library for the Americas: The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection (University of Texas Press, 2019) with José Montelongo and was appointed as an Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellow. Prior to her time in Austin, Julianne was at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as Deputy Director of the Robbins Collection Research Center and Rare Books Library. She was a Fulbright scholar and earned her Ph.D. in Early Modern European and Colonial Latin American history at UC Berkeley in 2002.

Where: Guerlac Room, A.D. White House

Register HERE to attend.

Co-Sponsored by Graduate School Career and Professional Development and The Society for the Humanities