Career Development
Humanities Career Community
If you're drawn to this career community, you likely find deeper meaning in stories, ideas, languages, and the ways in which they shape the human experience. Writers, editors, scholars, historians, performers, artists; explore the wide range of paths open to Willamette's deep thinkers and creative communicators. The skills honed through the humanities—critical analysis, persuasive writing, cultural literacy—are highly transferable and valued across many industries. Whether you're crafting narratives, interpreting texts, or engaging in public discourse, you have the tools to make a lasting impact both within and beyond academia.
Potential Majors/Minors
The following are commonly chosen majors, though any Willamette major can prepare you for a career in this community.
- Academic Librarian
- Academic Publishing
- Archivist
- Editor
- Grant-Writer/Developer
- Higher Education Leadership
- Historic Preservation
- K-12 Teacher
- Museum Curator
- Museum Education and/or Docent Coordinator
- Non-Profit Administration
- Researcher, all disciplines
- University Professor
Sample Work Settings
Museums (art or cultural), Archives, Academia/Higher Education, Research Organizations, Non-profit Organizations, K-12 Schools, Peace Corps, International Fellowships
Transferable Skills and Knowledge
- Academic Research & Writing
- Archival Skills
- Art Curation
- Grant Writing
- Historical/Preservation Databases
- Leadership
- Project Management
- Public Speaking and Presenting
- Teaching and Instruction
- Writing and Editing
Internships Map
Select a marker on the map to learn about specific internships Willamette students have pursued.
Internships for Credit
Career Development can support students seeking academic credit for internships. In order to earn internship credit, students must be enrolled in our Internship for Academic credit course.
Fast Facts
Individualized career advising helps WU students achieve goals throughout their college careers.
- 67% of WU Undergrads do at least one internship during their time at WU
- 81% of graduates are either working or in graduate school 6 months after graduation
- 20% of WU grads go directly to graduate or professional programs
- 1300+ one on one career advising appointments completed per year in career development
Alumni Highlight
Elena Familetto, ’19
Majors: Archaeology and Environmental Science
Current Role: PhD Candidate in Archaeology, Geoarchaeology & Palaeogeography: Utrecht University (Netherlands)
What Elena Plans to do: Teach at the university level
What Elena Studies: Elena combines archaeology and earth science. Her PhD project is related to the transition from hunting and gathering to crop cultivation in Europe. In the Netherlands where Elena works, 8000-year-old soil lies below meters of sediment deposited by rivers but thanks to extensive data from cores, the country’s paleogeography has been mapped and we can pinpoint certain landscape features of the right age and conditions suitable for farming. Elena works with an interdisciplinary team from cultural heritage, archaeology, geology, geography, and climate science to better understand how people managed cultivation in wetland environments while also assisting with thesis supervision and classes related to landscape reconstruction and fieldwork.
Advice from Elena
“Ask and connect. Ask for help, ask questions, ask about opportunities, ask people you know, ask people you don’t know, and if you have nothing to ask, then express interest. Making connections is key. And it’s ok if plans change! Navigating a career isn’t a linear progression and you might discover something is or isn’t for you only after you’ve tried it.”