Humanist Huskies: Empowering Liberal Arts Students Through Stories

The Humanist Huskies project helps to educate and empower students through sharing the diverse stories of how UW liberal arts students have applied their skills in innovative, cross-disciplinary work. This will illuminate the impacts of a liberal arts education, for current and prospective students. 

Through the creation of a website, the project will feature short videos and article interviews in which UW alumni will answer the following questions: 

• How did you get to where you are now?
• How does your humanities/arts/social sciences training at UW play a role in your work?
• How can we center and sustain the humanities in the workforce?
• What is a stereotype from obtaining a humanities degree that you have found untrue?
• What do you think will be the future of the humanities? How can we think about it in a different way in order to realize its potential for society? 

The Humanist Huskies project is the second part of the project, Digital Humanities Day. Digital Humanities Day was an event supported by the Husky Seed Fund and a Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship, and explored the value of the humanities in the current moment through panel discussions with 30 successful young professionals (and UW alumni) from the humanities, arts, and social sciences at UW. The panelists exemplified the exciting possibilities that emerge from interdisciplinary collaboration in the humanities, working in fields such as science and religious education, computational linguistics, technology marketing, cultural studies and activism, political consulting, user experience writing, policymaking, consumer research, and more. They demonstrated how the humanities are vital across sectors and disciplines, from the International Studies major who directs advocacy initiatives at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to the History major who directs sustainable development projects for the European Union, and to the Religious Studies and Biology major who creates religiously sensitive science curriculums. Event feedback showed that many students were inspired to explore new opportunities for their futures, despite the negativity they faced for pursuing the humanities. Students also described how they felt reassured and hopeful for their own careers, and for the value of the humanities in our society. 

Equity is a central component of this project. Humanist Huskies will bring together a network of students in interdisciplinary humanities work, creating new potential connections for students who access the website and who may not have access to mentors. Thus, the award will help create an ongoing resource for UW students, and will build and strengthen the Husky community. 

The overall goal of this project - to inspire and educate students about various possibilities for applying their liberal arts education - aligns with these UN Sustainable Development Goals: 

1. Quality Education: the Humanist Huskies platform is centered around creating accessible technology that builds community at UW, and brings awareness to educational and career opportunities for students. The site will promote access to learning and networking opportunities, as students will see the stories of others who have gone on similar paths. Also, many liberal arts departments, including at UW, are experiencing funding cuts and decreased enrollment, leaving students at a disadvantage when it comes to internships, research opportunities, and other programs that are thriving in STEM departments. The Humanist Huskies project will highlight this issue and bring together the liberal arts community at UW.
2. Decent Work and Economic Growth: students are often unaware of the diverse range of non-traditional career opportunities for liberal arts graduates. Most often, the only opportunities they find are exploitative, unpaid internships, which only further socioeconomic inequalities. The Humanist Huskies project will serve as a means to expand students' horizons, exposing them to opportunities and programs they might not have heard of.  The project will take place during spring and summer quarter 2021. This spring quarter, I have been reaching out to current and former students who can share their stories, leveraging the connections and network I built during the Digital Humanities Day event. In summer quarter, I will compile these interviews to publish on the website. The funding will be used to hire a UW student web developer and student UX designer, who I will work with closely to develop the site. I will also make sure that the site is designed in an accessible manner for people of all abilities. Finally, I will work on promoting the published site, through social media, UW department newsletters, and other student news channels. 

Therefore, creating a broader platform to tell the stories of students who have taken unique paths in the humanities to address different questions can inspire others who are unsure of their future. The Humanist Huskies site will continue the discussion about the relevance of the humanities today, and how individuals have used their training in innovative and unique ways. The site will serve as a resource for prospective and current students, so that they can get a glimpse of others' journeys in the humanities and arts, and feel supported as they navigate their own.