Beyond Banking and Consulting at the Humanities House

BY VICTORIA PU, '19, BEAM, STANFORD CAREER EDUCATION

With fall quarter still underway and the thought of summer break but a distant speck in the horizon—enter the Humanities House Summer Internship event!

Held in late October in the Humanities House in Manzanita Park, this year’s “Beyond Banking and Consulting” event, targeted at humanities majors, was the first of its kind and drew both a wide audience of students—think public policy and international relations meets anthropology and English—as well as a varied network of employers—think Kaeme, Google, Ericsson, and our local Haas Center.

So what exactly does “Beyond Banking and Consulting” entail? In the words of Humanities House Residential Fellow, Professor Dan Edelstein, “What we wanted to do by having this event…was just to raise your awareness about all the fun, amazing things you could be doing with your summer that don’t involve wearing a suit—well, some of them might,” he added jocosely.

On a more serious note, Edelstein—who is also a professor of French and Italian—described the event as an opportunity to “present to the students the incredible menu of options that is available to students beyond the typical internships with big corporations. In particular,” he continued, “we wanted to direct this event towards those of you who aren’t necessarily aiming to pursue a career in banking—who aren’t sure of what you want to do and curious about some of the other employment opportunities.”

Susan Weersing, the Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, also found the event valuable in “demystify[ing] the search process for summer employment.” She added, “The range of employers represented and the opportunity to learn about diverse summer opportunities in one place made this event especially effective.”

I’m very undeclared [in terms of my major, and] I had no idea that there were all these options out there for non-tech people. But it’s helpful to know that even if I don’t major in tech there are all these opportunities out there. - Sharon Platt, '19

Freshman Sharon Platt, for example, came to the event with no idea of what to expect, “I’m very undeclared [in terms of my major, and] I had no idea that there were all these options out there for non-tech people. But it’s helpful to know that even if I don’t major in tech there are all these opportunities out there.”

With a combined total of fifteen employers and internship providers present, the myriad opportunities that students like Platt were exposed to ranged from development projects with Tesla Motors, human resources initiatives, and public broadcasting across KQED platforms—to conducting market and consumer research with Forrester Research, and even going abroad to explore strategic communications in Brazil through subsidies funded by Stanford Local Services. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Some companies like Ericsson offered an array of 360 internships last summer, the gamut of which included marketing and customer relations positions specifically targeted at students of the humanities.

That humanities majors are in high demand by these companies comes as no surprise to Edelstein, as he remarked, “In many respects, I feel the employers already know that humanities majors are incredibly well-qualified and have this whole range of skills that are very useful for their company. Unfortunately, that information hasn’t really gotten back to students. [That’s why this event] is important for humanities majors to realize that their degree can open up a whole range of employment opportunities and that many companies are actively searching for job applicants that have that background and those skills.”

In talking specifically about humanities majors, I think they bring so much, especially…in thinking critically about issues. There’s a lot of cross-cultural questions to think about... - Hannah Karpel—a representative from the non-profit KaeMe Foundation

Indeed, after the lightning round of company introductions, students had the chance to connect directly with employers on an interpersonal level and learn more about the value their humanities degrees would add to these companies. Hannah Karpel—a representative from the non-profit KaeMe Foundation—offered, “In talking specifically about humanities majors, I think they bring so much, especially…in thinking critically about issues. There’s a lot of cross-cultural questions to think about because [we’re] partnering with the Ghanaian Department of Social Welfare, so we’re thinking about race and class and identity. And I think that a lot of times these questions are perhaps addressed better by humanities majors.” Emily Owayni, an account management strategist for the advertising company Grey Global Group, added that the only prerequisite to taking on many advertising and account management roles is “a good skillset of communication and leadership—which humanities is definitely aligned with.”

Beyond the corporate sphere, other students conversed and exchanged contact info with senior peer advisors who have undertaken projects subsidized by the Haas Center. From facilitating HIV/AIDS education programs through sports initiatives in South Africa, to spearheading social enterprise projects in Bulgaria, or working with the Tanzania-based Ubongo Kids on “edutainment” products that teach math through cartoons—an education in the humanities has provided invaluable skills that have taken students all over the globe, in every line of work.

As Edelstein summed it up most saliently, “There really are all these practical skills that come from majoring in the humanities—in addition to enriching your soul and your mind, which one cannot put a price on.”