Prepare for a rewarding career in the public humanities.
Public Humanities in Graduate Education offers two advanced certificate programs to all graduate students in GSAS interested in delving further into the theory and practice of public engagement by humanists.
The Advanced Certificate in Public Humanities explores public engagement as a cornerstone in the careers of scholars, researchers, and teachers. In addition to opportunities for cross-disciplinary thought and collaboration, students meet and learn from practitioners, setting the groundwork for a diverse array of post-graduate careers.
The Advanced Certificate in Management and Leadership of Public Service Organizations prepares students to apply their humanistic training in public-facing careers. Courses offered by the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service complement a foundation in Public Humanities by the management and leadership skills in demand at wide-ranging public enterprises including museums, cultural organizations and non-profits.
For a comprehensive overview and a coursework checklist for both certificates, view our Public Humanities Advanced Certificate One Sheet.
Eligibility
All students enrolled in graduate programs in the Graduate School of Arts & Science and within the terms of their coursework are eligible. Students funded through the MacCracken program pay no additional tuition or fees.
Requirements
Advanced Certificate in Public Humanities
Students must complete 12 points of coursework. All points may be shared with PhD and MA point requirements.
- Introduction to the Public Humanities (PUBHM GA-1001)
This course aims to introduce students to the history, theory, and practice of the public humanities and public scholarship, as framed and understood by the instructors. The course should equip students with a range of skills through which they can begin to envision developing a public humanities project while also situating students in the key discourses, debates, and concepts of the public humanities as it has emerged in recent decades. Typically, the course involves guest speakers and practitioners, analysis of specific public humanities projects, and texts that theorize and historicize the relationship between the public and humanities disciplines, along with related concepts of the human, histories of the modern university, privatization, expertise and knowledge production, etc.
In contrast to the Case Studies in the Public Humanities course, the Introduction to the Public Humanities aims to introduce students more broadly to the possibilities that are available to them as public scholars and practitioners. This course should constellate some of the vast variety of public humanities work in order to give students a sense of the expansiveness of this emergent field. When possible, the option of centering new or ongoing student work is encouraged. This course is open to MA and PhD students.
- Case Studies in the Public Humanities (PUBHM GA-1101)
This course aims to provide depth and a durational engagement with site specific projects in the public humanities and to introduce students best-practices for developing sustainable projects and reciprocal community-engagement. Students will analyze and engage with specific sites or cases in order to understand the different temporalities and outcome expectations, the ethics of community relationship building that guard against extractivism, and other challenges faced by academic and non-academic collaborations. When possible, the option of centering new or ongoing student work as one of the site-specific case studies is encouraged. When appropriate, examples that take students out of the classroom should be a part of the course. This course is open to MA and PhD students.
- One additional course from the approved list of departmental courses.
Advanced Certificate in Management and Leadership of Public Service Organizations
Students must complete 20 points of coursework (12 points may be shared with the points required for the PhD):
Introduction to the Public Humanities (PUBHM GA-1001)
Case Studies in the Public Humanities (PUBHM GA-1101)
Management and Leadership (CORE-GP1020)
One of the following required courses:
Strategic Management and Leadership (PADM-GP 2110)
Human Resources: Leading Talent Development (PADM-GP 2135)
Performance Measurement and Management (PADM-GP 2170)
Two NYU Wagner electives