Many UCSB doctoral alumni go on to establish interesting, well-paying careers in a wide range of fields beyond academia. If this of interest to you, you will be happy to learn of a new resource for UCSB students that demystifies non-academic careers, revealing many interesting professions that can utilize the skills you are developing in graduate school.
The Versatile PhD is a web-based resource that you can use anytime, from any computer, confidentially. There you will find:
- A thriving, supportive web-based community where you can participate in discussions, network with PhDs and ABDs outside the academy, or just listen and learn by osmosis
- Examples of successful resumes and cover letters that resulted in humanities and social science PhDs and ABDs getting their first post-academic positions
- Compelling first-person narratives written by successful humanities and social science Ph.D.s and ABDs who have gone on to non-academic careers, describing how their careers have developed after grad school and where they are today
- Detail-rich Panel Discussions in which Versatile PhDs working in a given non-academic field describe their jobs and answer questions from grad students like you. Past topics include Freelance Writing and Editing, Higher Education Consulting, Management Consulting, Federal Government and University Administration.
The Versatile PhD can be accessed from any computer and is confidential. None of your academic colleagues will know you are using the site.
Because you are a student at UCSB, you get access to the Premium Content Area where those high-quality written materials are stored. Log in with your UCSB NetID at www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/versatile-phd. This will take you to a secure site where you can establish your own login for the Versatile PhD.
The Versatile PhD is currently mainly for humanists and social scientists, but, a second forum was created this year for science, technology, engineering, and math students and panel discussions geared towards that population will be held there several times a year. As of July 1, 2013, the Premium Content will be as applicable to science disciplines as it now is to humanities and social science.
Dr. Paula Chambers, the founder of The Versatile PhD, will be on campus Feb. 20 to kick off this new service.
- Humanities, arts, social sciences, and education students can sign up for a lunch discussion here
- STEM students can sign up for an afternoon discussion at https://csep.cnsi.ucsb.edu/forms/PDS/Registration.php