Career Development Blog

Career Development Blog

Working in Academic Publishing Before and During the PhD

May 24, 2019

Before I came to Berkeley I worked for two years for the University of Chicago Press, and in my first year here I worked part-time for the University of California Press. At Uchicago Press, I was a part-time subscription fulfillment assistant, and later became a full-time Business Development Associate in the Journals Division. At UC Press, I was publications assistant to the editorial assistants and editors of Books Acquisitions. Though the two presses are very different, and my roles changed over time, both were wonderful places to work.

My colleagues’...

The Thesis Isn’t Everything: In Defense of Hobbies during Graduate School

March 8, 2019

Upon entering graduate school, it’s tempting to put life on hold, dropping all extracurricular activities and instead focusing exclusively on coursework. Then, once coursework concludes, it’s even more tempting to allow dissertation work to become all-enveloping. The mental strain of always working—or rather, of always thinking about work—is massive. When asking graduate students to participate in activities, I frequently hear a dejected refrain of “I can’t, because I have to study.” However, resisting the temptation of putting life on hold and instead maintaining a healthy work-life...

Interning with the U.S. Department of State: Putting History into Action

February 4, 2019

During the summer of 2018, I took the opportunity to combine my training as a historian with my wish to serve my country. At the suggestion of a friend, I applied for and accepted an online internship with the (nonpartisan) Office of the Historian in the Bureau of Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State. The Department of State’s Office of the Historian is responsible for preparing and publishing the Foreign Relations of the United States(FRUS) – a text series of collected documents on U.S. foreign relations and diplomacy – and for providing historically based studies for other...

Honing your professional skills through campus employment

January 11, 2019

The summer after my first year at UC Berkeley, I looked for a summer job on campus that would give me the chance to both learn a new skill and earn some much-needed cash. Despite having no experience in coding or web development, I was lucky enough to be hired by Digital Humanities @ Berkeley as a Digital Communications Assistant. DH staff trained me in back-end website management and basic website code debugging, and by the end of the summer, I was able to assist in the copying and migration of the redesigned website to a new address. The skills I learned that summer have been useful in...

Panel on the Many Careers of Historians as Writers

December 13, 2018

At our final event of this semester, on December 4th the department’s Career Development Initiative hosted a panel discussion on the many careers of historians as writers moderated by Professor James Vernon. We were joined by Professor Elena Schneider, who prior to her academic career worked in the publishing industry, and by four of our PhD alumni who work in writing careers beyond higher education: Katie Harper, a grant writer for the Sierra Club; Andrea Horbinski, a freelance writer and writer for Netflix; Karen McNeill, a family historian at US Bank; and Jacob Mikanowski, a freelance...

Spotlight on Grad Student Side-gigs: Working as a Trip Leader and Curriculum Developer for High School Study Abroad Programs

November 28, 2018

No matter how dead the civilization or period we study is, all of us have regional expertise of some variety. Our careful work in the archives, languages, and cultures of different places enables us to be especially good guides to students seeking to understand those places, as well as to practice the more abstract and increasingly popular skill of “global citizenry."

Study abroad is a huge and competitive industry, and I find that a lot of it is pretty lousy. The criticisms aren’t hard to list. But while at Berkeley, I’ve also worked with high school study abroad programs that are...

Visit to Box Campus

November 6, 2018

On November 5th, History Department alumnus and Alumni Advisory Board member Andrew Keating generously hosted a group of grad students at the Box campus for the day. Andrew works as Managing Director for Healthcare and Education at Box. In addition to talking to us about his own career trajectory from academia into tech, Andrew invited a number of other ‘Boxers’ to speak to us about their experiences and current work at the company.

We heard from Emily Vogel, Manager of University Recruiting; Anand Subramaian, Data Scientist; and Laura O’Neil, Customer Content...

Alumni Panel on Teaching Beyond Four-Year College

October 22, 2018

On September 27th, the History Department hosted a panel featuring six of our PhD alumni who work in teaching and education beyond four-year colleges. Mike Buckley (Convent and Stuart Hall High Schools), Adrianne Francisco (Drew School), Ashley Leyba (BASIS Independent Fremont), Joseph Nejad-Duong (Fremont High), Tim Rose (Berkeley City College), and Rachel Reinhard (UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project) generously took the time to talk to current grad students about their work as educators in institutions public and private across the K-16 span.

In the course of our two-hour...

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Working in Academic Publishing Before and During the PhD By Claire Wrigley | May 24, 2019

Before I came to Berkeley I worked for two years for the University of Chicago Press, and in my first year here I worked part-time for the University of California Press. At Uchicago Press, I was a part-time subscription fulfillment assistant, and later became a full-time Business Development Associate in the Journals Division. At UC Press, I was publications assistant to the editorial assistants and editors of Books Acquisitions. Though the two presses are...