Humanists at Large (HAL) is a specialized career exploration program for Stanford PhD students in the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences who are interested in careers beyond academia. Through HAL, participants are exposed to meaningful, purposeful non-faculty careers that capitalize on humanistic knowledge and skills. The program is part of a national effort to make the diversity of humanities careers visible, viable, and valued. Through HAL, Stanford PhD students access resources and participate in activities to advance their career exploration beyond academia.
Program Information and Application
Each year, the HAL Fellows do four things together:
- Participate in a cohort community of doctoral students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The cohort builds a peer group for learning and support.
- Learn the process of career exploration. Career exploration is an iterative process of learning about yourself —your values, skills, and interests— and learning about possibilities out in the world.
- Practice the strategies of exploring career and applying for jobs. Some of the specific skills we will work on together are conducting informational interviews, writing resumes, creating LinkedIn profiles, and interviewing.
- Engage with the humanities employment ecosystem in the Bay Area. HAL identifies organizations and people who use humanistic thinking, skills, and values in their work. HAL Fellows connect with them through informational interviews and site visits.
Visit here for a more detailed description of the program and expectations.
Humanists at Large (HAL) is made possible through the generous support of the Dean of Humanities and Sciences and is housed at Stanford Career Education. The program is led by Sal Cipriano and Chris Golde. If you have any questions about HAL, please email Sal or Chris.
The 2026 HAL application is now live. Application materials must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. PT, Friday, December 12, 2025. Decisions will be communicated by Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
Visit here to access the HAL 2026 Online Application
In the application, you will be asked to upload a one-page personal statement and your CV/resume and to answer five short questions to help us shape the program.
Additionally, you are asked to confirm that you have discussed your participation in HAL with your primary academic advisors and that you can attend all program sessions, including the required Designing the Professional (DtP) class.
A detailed description of expectations and schedule is available–please review before applying. There is no cost for participation in HAL. All expenses, including site visits, are covered. The program does not offer academic credit; however, the DtP class is one unit.
All enrolled PhD students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences within the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford are eligible to apply. Students must also enroll in Designing the Professional (ENGR 311B).
HAL is more tailored for PhD students in the latter stages of their studies; we prefer that you are beyond at least your second year of study. If you are a humanities PhD student in your first or second year, please consider Crafting Your Humanist Career.
HAL is open on a space-available basis to lecturers in Stanford Introductory Studies. Humanities postdocs and lecturers, including lecturers in Stanford Introductory Studies, may be able to participate on a space available basis.
The Humanists at Large (HAL) program at Stanford University was launched in 2020 in a collaboration between Stanford Career Education and the School of Humanities and Sciences. The HAL program brings together a selected group of Stanford PhD students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. HAL Fellows come together to learn about and explore diverse career paths throughout Winter and Spring quarters each academic year. You can visit the links below to navigate to different cohort years and learn about past fellows.
Additional Resources for Humanities PhDs
People with humanities PhDs are working in many industries throughout the Bay Area. They use their humanistic training in their work. Talking with people in these jobs is an important step to learn more about what’s possible. To help with this exploration process, we created a directory of PhD-humanists in the Bay Area with whom you can connect for conversations.
Visit here to access the Bay Area Humanists at Large Directory
- This is a Stanford-only Google sheet. Access it with your @stanford.edu email.
- The directory lists each person’s PhD discipline, PhD year and PhD university.
- Each person provided their job title and a short description of what they do.
- Each person identified the organization they work for and categorized it in one of the following employment sectors that describes their organization. This does not describe the person’s role in the organization.
- Government Agency
- Foundation or Philanthropic Organization
- Social Service or Social Advocacy Nonprofit Organization
- Arts, Cultural or Public Humanities Organization
- GLAM: Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums
- Writing, Editing, and Publishing
- Secondary School
- Postsecondary Institution*
- Educational Technology or Other Education Service Organization
- Consulting Organization
- Technology Company
- Other For-Profit Company
- Self-Employed
- There is a second directory–the Stanford Higher Education Administration (HEAD) Directory–which includes PhD holders from all disciplines who work as staff specifically at Stanford.
- Many of the individuals listed in this directory have also offered to help in other ways too, such as campus events or panels. Contact Chris Golde if you want to connect to this network for other purposes.
Note: You can search the directory by discipline or current work role and connect with people to ask about their current role and organization, the work they do, and their path to their current job.
- Crafting Your Humanist Career - Crafting is a 2-credit course created for humanities & social science PhD students in their early years (audit/no credit available). The goal of the course is for students to reflect on where they are and make a game plan for the rest of their time at Stanford – with an eye towards where they are headed after the PhD.
- Imagine PhD - This free on-line tool is aimed at humanities and social science PhD students. It has three self-assessments and a variety of resources to help you explore 15 job families that are particularly suited to humanists and social scientists.
- Modern Language Association (MLA) Career Resources - Access this MLA website to find a range of career resources for PhDs in the humanities who are seeking jobs in and outside the academy, as well as guidelines and tools for faculty members and hiring departments.
- American Historical Association (AHA) Career Resources - The AHA has led several initiatives to support the career exploration and preparation of history PhDs, with an eye towards career diversity.
