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Despite the pervasive public perception that humanities degrees fail to provide students with adequate financial returns on their educational investments, the economic reality is that humanities degree holders serve as key contributors to our economic life, with similar rates of employment and annual salary as other fields (American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2023). Furthermore, studying the humanities equips students with such skills as problem-solving, team-work, effective communication, and flexibility which, coincidentally, are the same skills that employers seek on a candidate's resume (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2025). Which means that what the Humanities has is a PR problem.

One powerful way to bridge this perception gap is through work-based learning. This approach integrates academic coursework with professional development, building student awareness of potential careers, facilitating exploration between career opportunities and student fit, and preparing students for their chosen careers (Johnson et al., 2018). And thanks to a $5,000,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, the newly-created Monarch Humanities Internship Academy (MHIA) at �鶹����AV seeks to demonstrate the value of the humanities and its graduates through the intentional integration of work-based learning into its curriculum. The goal? For students, parents, and employers to see that the humanities, well, work.

The Framework

The Academy has operationalized this curricular integration through the “Explore, Prepare, Apply” framework. A student pursuing a degree in the humanities at �鶹����AV will have the opportunity to engage in work-based learning experiences across three levels:

1. Students will Explore career fields related to the humanities and their major. The primary focus is on early-stage courses introducing career options, strengths mapping, and foundational communication strategies.
2. Students will Prepare to engage in field-based experiences. This level emphasizes mid-level courses developing transferable skills such as problem-solving and real-world application.
3. Students will Apply disciplinary learning in real-world settings. This level focuses on advanced courses (capstones, internships) where students engage in professional settings and reflect on their identities.

Director of High Impact Learning Initiatives in the Office of Academic Success Lanah Stafford, Ph.D. spearheads this work and is tasked with mapping efforts. Director of Faculty Development, MHIA, and Master Lecturer, Department of Communication & Theatre Arts Alison Lietzenmayer works closely with Stafford. This joint approach was selected because curriculum mapping and faculty development are complementary efforts: mapping identifies gaps in the curriculum while development supports program faculty with addressing them. Lietzenmayer states, “The humanities have never lacked value – just visibility. By embedding work-based learning preparation into the humanities curriculum, we share compelling evidence that humanities education equips students with the critical, adaptable skills necessary for real-world impact. We're showing students, parents, and employers that the humanities don’t just matter – they work.”

Initial efforts in year one focused on leveraging existing experiential learning pathways to identify the state of work-based learning in the Mellon-supported humanities degree programs. These maps served as a baseline and springboard for targeted discussions with program faculty for expansion in year two. Stafford shares, “curricular mapping gave us a clear starting point – but more importantly, it opened the door for meaningful conversations with faculty about where work-based learning is already happening and where it has the potential to grow.”

Centering Faculty Expertise

Because the initial lift of creating these maps leveraged only institutional data, they paint an incomplete picture of the state of work-based learning in the humanities curricula. And who better to fill in the gaps than the faculty closest to the work? With their discipline-specific expertise, professional networks, and daily interactions with students as instructors and mentors, humanities faculty know their programs and needs best.��

With that in mind, Stafford and Lietzenmayer have begun the process of consulting with the individual faculty who teach courses in these programs. This work has proven to be essential to the success of this initiative: while the initial goal was to “fill in the gaps” of the college’s understanding of where students already encounter this framework, it has much more importantly provided structured time and space for these faculty to think deeply about the work of their program/courses. The following questions have guided these consultations:

1. Are there existing courses that already align with the “Explore, Prepare, Apply” framework?
2. In what ways do the activities in your course(s) support our students when considered through this framework?
3. What gaps exist when considering the curriculum through this framework?
4. How might these gaps best be addressed?

Early Successes

Initial efforts have been rewarding. Faculty across disciplines such as Art History, Women’s and Gender Studies, World Languages & Cultures, and History have shared key insights highlighting the varied needs and opportunities within their respective programs. For many of these programs, work-based learning has always been an integral component of their work, and through these consultations, they have a chance to make that connection more explicit. Associate Professor Vittorio Colaizzi observes, “I never thought of Art Criticism (ART 350W) as a work-based learning course, but when I think about the key skills that we practice: reading, writing, discussion, observation, and articulation, I realize that those are also the skills that any student who wishes to be successful in art criticism, art history, education, museum work, and related fields would need to develop.”

For other programs, small tweaks might bring existing efforts into stronger focus: adjusting an assignment or adding a question for an alumni panel. Professor Peter Schulman states, “We incorporate a lot of career exploration into our Business French: Language and Culture (FR 366) course by inviting guest speakers who hold jobs that use French. While it helps students to think more broadly about where their careers might go, there are opportunities to solidify these partnerships in support of our students securing internships and positions in their companies as they move through and beyond �鶹����AV.”

And still other opportunities abound to develop intentional programming that makes explicit the ways in which the humanities curricula prepare students to pursue careers in their field following graduation. Master Lecturer Cathleen Rhodes shares, “Work-based learning creates space for students in Women’s & Gender Studies and Queer Studies to apply critical theory to real-world contexts—whether through navigating workplace dynamics, engaging in archival research, or examining the impact of gender and sexuality across global technologies. It equips them not only with professional skills, but with the confidence to lead with insight and empathy.”

Next Steps

Consultations will continue through the end of the spring semester, then resume in the fall. The findings of these consultations will be shared with grant and college leadership and include practical recommendations for supporting faculty with making well-informed adjustments to their courses and curricula. In the interim, summer faculty development will rev up with two opportunities for involvement from MHIA: Humanities at Work and Humanities in Action.��

Conclusion

The work of this grant and of these curriculum efforts empower humanities faculty to reclaim the narrative of the role and importance of the humanities in preparing students to engage in meaningful work and life following graduation. And in doing so, they can communicate confidently to students about the value of pursuing a degree in the humanities. Because the humanities work.

• To learn more about the Monarch Humanities Internship Academy (part of the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office), .
• Faculty who teach in humanities programs and would like to participate in a consultation should reach out to Dr. Lanah Stafford (lstaffor@odu.edu) for more information.

References

American Academy of Arts & Sciences (October 2023). Employment Outcomes for Humanities Majors: State Profiles.

Johnson, L., White, R., Charner, I., Cole, J. & Promboin, G. (2018). Work-Based Learning Manual A How-To Guide For Work-Based Learning.

National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2025) Job Outlook 2025.