What do we want doctoral education to look like in 2037?

 How can we sustain the disciplines we value in a changing economic and institutional landscape? What opportunities can we offer our graduate students to prepare them for rewarding work?  

Join American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) president Joy Connolly and the Doctoral Futures team for a day of action-oriented conversations about the future of doctoral education. 

Doctoral education in the humanities produces new knowledge and institutional leaders for all sectors of the economy. In an environment where funding is reduced and cohorts are shrinking, graduate programs must adapt. How will we meet the moment, support students and develop humanities skills and dispositions that will serve the future well?  

Solutions to these challenges will look different across institutions and programs, but collaboration across institutions is key to a workable future. Funded by the NEH and the Mellon Foundation, the ACLS Doctoral Futures Initiative has been reimagining the humanities PhD, taking stock of new ideas and best practices and assembling strategies that work. 

We will convene at the Ohio Union for a day of action-oriented conversation on January 22, 2027, to begin building that future. 

A keynote by ACLS president Joy Connolly and the Doctoral Futures team will set the agenda.  Participants will spend the rest of the day conversing, collaborating and problem-solving with stakeholders from institutions across the Midwest. Lunch will be provided.

We welcome teams of stakeholders from higher education institutions across the region. These include faculty; administrators; directors of graduate studies; graduate program coordinators and staff; career advisors; PhD alumni who are working outside the academy, in community colleges, or in community-engaged research; doctoral students; representatives from humanities centers, teaching and learning centers, faculty development, and employer/industry relations. Individuals are welcome to join us as well.

This day of conversation will leave every participant with new ideas and sustainable strategies for moving doctoral education forward. 

Contact

Danielle Fosler-Lussier (fosler-lussier.2@osu.edu)
Director of the Imagined Futures Initiative + Professor of Music
The Ohio State University

Selected Lodging Options

• Blackwell Inn (on-campus hotel) 
  2110 Tuttle Park Place (.6 miles away)

• Comfort Suites Columbus Expo Center
  1690 Clara St. I-71 (1.5 miles away)

• Hyatt House Columbus OSU / Short North
  633 West 5th Avenue (1.6 miles away)

• Red Roof PLUS+
  441 Ackerman Rd. (1.9 miles)

• Holiday Inn Express OSU Medical Center
  3045 Olentangy River Rd. (2.3 miles away)

• Sonesta Columbus Downtown
  33 E. Nationwide Blvd. (2.4 miles)
  Bus transportation: Take northbound #2 bus on N. High St. Get off at W. 18th Ave. On Sunday morning, northbound bus stops at Nationwide every half hour. 

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Sponsors

Doctoral Futures Initiative
American Council of Learned Societies 

Imagined Futures Graduate Professional Development Initiative
The Ohio State University

Global Arts + Humanities | Cross-Disciplinary Research Exchange
The Ohio State University

Council of Graduate Students
The Ohio State University

Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities
Case Western Reserve University