Association of graduate schools in the humanities?

[greenmt]

Is there one?  I think there should be.  If many of the problems we face result from the indifference or hostility of those who hold the purse strings in Washington and state capitals, and pressure on individual programs to tighten their budgets as resources diminish, doesn't it make sense for a coalition of programs that represent the full cohort of humanities graduate programs - faculty, adjuncts, and students - to speak with one voice, to articulate why the f this work matters and is worth supporting?  It may be self-evident to us, but where I come from, it's not.  Virtually every profession in the US has a representative in DC or NY making a public case for support.  Why not this one?  

 

What do you think?

[ToldAgain]

Hi, this post prompted me to look into the idea. I found an organization called the Federation of State Humanities Councils, which puts on a yearly Humanities on the Hill event in the spring. I don't quite know if they do work with graduate programs, but this is a good place to start looking. If anybody knows about a program like the one you are talking about, it is them.

 

http://www.statehumanities.org/index.php

[greenmt]

Thank you.  I knew about this org, but I think it is mostly meant to serve the state humanities councils, and their event is mostly meant to ensure continued funding by Congress for the state councils, so they can keep supporting state and local events and activities.  But this and some conversation on a thread under English Lit, about an initiative by the MLA is making me wonder whether the big humanities funders like Mellon (or even the NEH itself) are turning to the problem of the job market and the perceived value of the humanities outside the academy.  And this might be a good model for the kind of org that I'm suggesting, though as a representative of orgs that are significantly funded by direct federal appropriation, they likely have a different dance to dance.