Doctoral Futures

NAVSA is proud to participate in Doctoral Futures, an initiative co-led by the ACLS, AHA, MLA, and SBL, and generously funded by the Mellon Foundation. Doctoral Futures seeks to transform doctoral education in the humanities and interpretive social sciences to better serve students, advance scholarship, and contribute to the public good. NAVSA has committed to work with other scholarly organizations to:

• Advocate for higher completion rates, efficient time-to-degree, equitable funding, and sustainable program structures;
• Support the recruitment of diverse cohorts including first-generation students, students from underrepresented institutions, and non-traditional candidates;
• Promote curricular innovation that integrates rigorous academic and scholarly training with professional development;
• Support collective and holistic mentorship models and training faculty in inclusive advising practices;
• Center principles of access and inclusion in all aspects of graduate education;
• Prioritize student well-being throughout the doctoral experience.

We welcome recognition of the full spectrum of careers for which doctoral training prepares graduates, including positions in teaching-intensive institutions, cultural organizations, the public service, the private sector, and publicly engaged scholarship, and commit to legitimizing these diverse pathways through our conferences, publications, and professional discourse.

More information about the Doctoral Futures initiatives can be found here: https://www.acls.org/doctoral-futures/