Career Engagement
Develop Career-Ready Skills
Discover Career Possibilities
Design a Meaningful Career
Studying the humanities prepares you for any kind of career. In humanities coursework, you hone your problem-solving, teamwork, and writing capabilities – the top attributes that employers say they are looking for in new college graduates. Humanities-trained professionals are insightful leaders and innovative problem-solvers, able to think critically and take action on important issues in the world.
The skills you learn in the humanities equip you with a flexible and adaptable toolkit that grows with you. Humanities majors find careers in all kinds of fields: from arts to law to technology. With career advising, career events, and alumni connections designed specifically for humanities students, we offer support for exploring the endless things you can do with a humanities degree.
Wherever you are in your academic and professional journey, we can help you develop career-ready skills, discover career possibilities, and design a meaningful career.
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Career Advising
Meet with the Humanities Career Engagement Specialist
Students with a major or minor in the Humanities Division can sign up for 1:1 career advising appointments with the Humanities Career Engagement Specialist, Meredith Pelrine. You can schedule through Google Calendar or Handshake. Topics can include career exploration, job and internship searches, resumes and cover letters, interview preparation, job offer evaluation and negotiation, and more. Appointments are available virtually and in person.
You can also schedule on Handshake by selecting Humanities Coaching as described below.
- Log in to Handshake. If you are not already in the Appointments section, go to “Career center” and then “Appointments.” From Appointments, click “Schedule a New Appointment.”
- To schedule with Meredith, select “Career Coaching” and then “Humanities Coaching.” All Humanities Coaching appointments will be with Meredith. If you do not see the Humanities Coaching option, please email hum-career-engagement@ucsc.edu.
Humanities Majors
Humanities Minors
Career Events
We host informative and interactive career events for all Humanities majors and minors.
Humanities at Work Series
This interactive workshop series explores how to prepare for and design a successful and fulfilling career using the skills you cultivate in your humanities studies.
Career Skills Workshops
We partner with UCSC Career Success to bring humanities students hands-on professional skills workshops to help you land your next job, covering topics like interviewing and networking.
Campus to Career
“What can I do with a humanities degree?” is a great question – and our Campus to Career series has great answers! In each one, we hear from real professionals who have humanities degrees and are now using them in diverse career paths.
Upcoming Career Events
Want to keep track of all our upcoming events so that you don’t miss a thing? Add our Student Events Calendar to your Google Calendar!
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Humanities Grad School 101 – Wednesday 10/29, 5-6:30pm
Are you curious about graduate school in the humanities? Join this Humanities Grad School 101 session, where we’ll hear from Associate Dean of Research Pranav Anand and stellar UCSC graduate students in History, Linguistics, Literature, and Philosophy. We’ll discuss important considerations for deciding to pursue graduate school and what to look for in an academic program and…
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Job Talk with Community Archivist – Thursday 11/6, 12-1pm
Wondering what you can do with your Arts or Humanities degree? Come hear from a real professional on our campus with a background in both. Rebecca Hernandez is the inaugural Community Archivist at the UCSC University Library. In this job talk, she will tell us about her educational journey as a first-generation transfer student and…
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Networking & LinkedIn Workshop – Wednesday 11/12, 12:30-1:30pm
Have you heard that networking is important, but don’t know how to begin? Are you wondering what people do on LinkedIn? Join this interactive, hands-on workshop where you’ll learn the basics of how, where, and why to network and see how LinkedIn can help. At the end of the workshop, you’ll be ready to connect…
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Job Talk with Assistant Public Defender – Thursday 11/13, 12:30-1:30pm
Interested in an impact-driven career in law, public policy, or politics? Come hear from UCSC Humanities alum Kim Angulo, an Assistant Public Defender with experience in both law and public policy work. You’ll gain insights into how to enter these fields, considerations for knowing whether they’re a good fit for you, and ideas for how…
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Informational Interviewing Workshop – Wednesday 11/19, 12:30-1:30pm
Are you curious about your career options as a humanities student? Wondering how the professionals around you got to where they are? Join this interactive workshop to learn about informational interviewing*, a way you can use your curiosity to explore career possibilities and make meaningful professional connections. You’ll leave ready to reach out, learn from…
Past Recorded Events
Campus to Career Job Talk with Kristen Amicone, Education Program Specialist
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Fields: Education, Nonprofit
Humanities Campus to Career Law Panel
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Fields: Law, Legal Services
Campus to Career Job Talk with Dr. Leanne Maunu, Dean of Languages and Literature at Palomar College
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Fields: Academic Leadership, Higher Education, Teaching
Campus to Career Job Talk with Tammy Tolgo, Amazon Talent Acquisition
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Fields: Business, Human Resources, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition
Humanists in Tech
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
[Recording to be posted]
Campus to Career and Back! Careers in the Academic Library
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Fields: Archives, Information Science, Libraries, Research
Alumni Connections
Join the UCSC Humanities LinkedIn Group to connect with fellow UCSC Humanities students and recent alumni, build your comfort and confidence in using LinkedIn, and learn about Humanities-related events and opportunities.
Want support building your LinkedIn profile? See the Humanities Networking training module to learn all about LinkedIn, networking, and informational interviewing. After completing the training module, you can also connect to the Humanities Professional Network to put your networking skills into practice while refining your career goals.
Humanities Professional Network
The Humanities Professional Network is a group of humanities alumni who want to support current UCSC Humanities undergraduate students on their career journeys. To engage with the Humanities Professional Network:
- Complete the Humanities Networking training module and set up your LinkedIn.
- Connect, engage, network! Once you have completed the required training module, you will get access to LinkedIn information for the members of the HPN so that you can reach out to these professionals directly.
- Contact hum-career-engagement@ucsc.edu for any support.
Sarah Cunniff
Retired Career Counselor for UC Berkeley School of Law
Bio
Studied French Literature at UCSC. Attended law school at UC Hastings and practiced law in firms large and small and in an in-house legal department. Worked for 12 years as a career counselor at Berkeley Law.
What I offer
- Informational interviews
- Interview preparation
- Resume support
- Cover letter review
- Graduate school application review
- Law school application review
David A. Gleason
Retired Veteran of High Tech Companies
Bio
Merrill College Russian major. I parlayed my humanities education into a career in technology at some of the most exciting companies, promoting platforms to software developers through strategic programs, events, and targeted technical content.
What I offer
- Informational interviews
- Interview preparation
- Resume support
- Technical and marketing writing job application review
Jalyn Mitchell
Attorney, Bay Area Legal Aid
Bio
Jalyn Mitchell is a proud UCSC College Ten Alum – class of 2011. She majored in English Language Literature and minored in Legal Studies. She graduated from Law School from Loyola University in Chicago. Currently and for the last 2.5 years she has represented young people on a variety of issues including restraining orders, traffic tickets, education law, and guardianships.
What I offer
- Informational interviews
- Resume support
Lawrence Moskowitz
Partner; Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz
Bio
I received a BA in History from UCSC in 1974 and a J.D. from Berkeley Law School in 1977. After working in legal publishing for a few years, I opened a solo law practice in Santa Rosa, California in 1984. I joined the Perry, Johnson firm in 2002.
What I offer
- Informational interviews
- Law school application review
Sarah Papazoglakis
Trust Product Strategist, Reality Labs at Meta
Bio
Sarah Papazoglakis holds a PhD in Literature from University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently a Trust Product Strategist at Meta’s Reality Labs. In this role, she builds privacy and responsible innovation frameworks for emerging VR technologies and bridges the gap between AI research and consumer product use. Sarah draws from her humanities PhD to help product and engineering leaders imagine and define positive social impacts of future technologies and scope the requirements needed to build privacy- and trust-by-design into foundational product architectures. She is also a co-founder of Autonomous Futures collective, which uses literature and arts to envision and enact a better technological future.
What I offer
- Informational interviews
- Interview preparation
- Resume support
- Graduate school application review
We are currently piloting this program with a small group of alumni. Once we are ready to expand, we will have a form to fill out to share interest in serving on the HPN. Reach out to hum-career-engagement@ucsc.edu with any questions.
Resources
Visit Our Little Lending Library
Humanities majors and minors are eligible to borrow books from our career lending library. Titles include:
- Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
- A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica McCrory Calarco
- The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career off Right by Gorick Ng
- Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
- Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career by Herminia Ibarra
Contact hum-career-engagement@ucsc.edu to learn more.
Explore Resources
Check out UCSC Career Success for a trove of career resources, including:
Visit Undocumented Student Services for Inclusive Professional Opportunities