Paula Chambers, chief executive officer of The Versatile Ph.D. and an expert on career searches for students who have earned advanced academic degrees, will present at NDSU Monday, March 19, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union Century Theater.
Chambers will describe her own journey from pursuing a rhetoric and composition doctorate to the founding of her company in 2010, relate key facts about the current academic job market and describe specific career paths that other people who have advanced academic degrees have successfully pursued. She also will demonstrate her website, which features non-academic career information for graduate students in all disciplines, but especially for graduate students in the humanities and social sciences.
Chambers’ presentation will be followed by a panel discussion from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Members of the panel will include NDSU alumni who hold graduate degrees and work outside academia as well as NDSU faculty.
Chambers earned her doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Ohio State in 2000. She planned to become an English professor, but realized mid-program that she might be more satisfied in a non-academic career. Not finding many resources to help her identify her options, she created a listserv, called WRK4US, about non-academic careers for humanities graduate students. It was the first of its kind and became an important resource, helping thousands of people over its 11-year history.
Following graduation, Chambers worked as a grant writer and fundraising professional in the non-profit sector, while continuing to manage the listserv and giving hope to a broadening community of students and people who had completed their doctorates. In 2010, she decided that nurturing this community was her career and transformed the listserv into a sustainable online business called The Versatile Ph.D., which serves 30 institutions and 13,000 individuals. The Versatile Ph.D. provides a supportive, helpful community for people in all disciplines and premium content about specific doctorate-friendly careers for humanists and social scientists. Chambers runs the business from her home office in Los Angeles.
The presentation and panel discussion are sponsored by the NDSU Graduate School. They are free and open to the public.
