Admissions to the Public Humanities Graduate Certificate have been suspended as of fall 2021. If you have any questions, please contact the department.

The Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities prepares graduate students to pursue careers outside of academia and trains students who wish to remain within academia to articulate new horizons for their research.

The Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities builds on the Center for the Humanities’ pioneering work in the public humanities and its related programs for graduate students, including the Public Humanities Exchange (HEX) and the Public Humanities Fellowships. It provides enrolled students with training and experience in the focuses on essential knowledge and skills required for professional paths that may not include traditional university teaching positions, whether in other sectors of higher education, policymaking and analysis, cultural organizations, new media, government, or research. Through coursework and hands-on project development, the program equips students with theoretical, historical, and practical knowledge that will help them to develop alternative applications for their scholarly research and engage their scholarly methods for use in broader social and professional contexts.

Admissions to the Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities is suspended as of Fall 2021.  For further questions, please contact Megan Massino at massino@wisc.edu.

Graduate students pursuing degrees in any program at UW–Madison are welcome to seek admission into the Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities. Students can declare their intention to pursue the certificate at any time. To receive the certificate, they must complete an application form, and are welcome to submit it at any time for review and feedback from the Associate Director, Megan Massino. The application requires final approval by a faculty subcommittee of the Center for the Humanities’ advisory committee.

There are no formal prerequisites for matriculation into the graduate certificate program in terms of coursework. However, only those students with B.A. or B.S. degrees from accredited colleges or universities who are currently enrolled graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are permitted to enter the graduate certificate program. Special students and undergraduates are ineligible to receive the certificate.

Graduate students pursuing any degree in any program at UW–Madison are invited to obtain a Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities. The certificate is not a stand-alone program. Students who wish to receive the Graduate Certificate in the Public Humanities must take a core course, INTER-LS 700 Public Humanities: Theories, Methods, Cases offered each year, and develop a coherent, thematic sequence of three additional courses, for a total of 12 credits. All students also are required to undertake a capstone project.

1. a. Discover inherent value of working collaboratively with constituencies outside of the university, especially community based program partners. b. Learn how to more effectively assess the needs and capacities of program partners and community organizations in general. c. Advance the Wisconsin Idea and its of community engagement across racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural differences.
2. a. Recognize public cultures through institutions, publication, program development and public intellectual, art, and criticism. b. Gain understanding of Public Humanities as emerging/significant field and its academic/nonacademic value. c. Understand foundations of Public Humanities/current discussions about its nature/value. d. Develop concepts/skills translating humanities for nonacademics.
3. a. Be able to critically analyze and engage with the role of the public intellectual. b. Develop alternative applications for scholarly research and training for use in a broader context.

Affiliated Faculty