The MLA today announced it is awarding the association’s Pathways Step Grants to nineteen faculty teams in MLA-related disciplines. Each step grant provides up to $10,000 to support faculty members in the development of new structures, programs, and resources that bolster the recruitment, retention, and career readiness of undergraduate students.
Through the support of the Mellon Foundation, Pathways initiatives are equipping faculty members across the country with the tools they need to design and launch life-changing opportunities for their students. “Faculty members can move mountains when given the right support,” said Paula M. Krebs, the executive director of the MLA. “Our Pathways fellows go above and beyond to meet their students’ needs and create opportunities for experiences that illuminate all the possibilities that studying the humanities can unlock.”
The nineteen projects, selected through a competitive peer-review process, demonstrate an array of innovative approaches intended to engage and enrich humanities students in the classroom and beyond. Examples include the following:
- At Colorado Mesa University, in western Colorado, faculty members are designing a collaborative conference for rural and first-generation students, creating a network with other colleges in the region to combat geographic and academic isolation.
- At St. Edward’s University, in Austin, Texas, faculty members are creating a bilingual career readiness ecosystem that aims to directly link bilingualism to clear career outcomes for all students regardless of their major.
- At Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia, faculty members are expanding an existing minor and launching a major in health humanities in an effort to contribute to students’ academic growth, sense of educational purpose, and ownership of their own learning—all of which improve retention and career readiness.
The recipients of Pathways Step Grants will present their projects at the 2027 MLA Annual Convention, taking place in Los Angeles, California, from 7 to 10 January.
The directors of the nineteen projects are
- Melissa Baralt and Jazmine Exford (Florida International Univ.)—“From Dual Enrollment to Career: A Proficiency-Based Pathway for Multilingual Students at FIU”
- Todd Butler and Aileen Taylor-Grant (San Diego State Univ.)—“Early Intervention through Second Year Pathways”
- Stephanie Carpenter (Michigan Technological Univ.)—“Implementing Success: A Toolkit for Humanities Interns and Their Internship Sponsors”
- Erin Clark and Michelle F. Eble (East Carolina Univ.)—“Expanding Access and Career Pathways in Professional Writing and Information Design”
- Muriel Cormican (Texas Christian Univ.)—“A Human-Centered AI Future”
- Collin Craig (Hunter Coll., City Univ. of New York)—“Transfer Bridge Humanities Fellows Program”
- Sarah Beth Dempsey and Molly Metherd (Saint Mary’s Coll. of California)— “Micro Internships for Macro Impact: Expanding Access in the Humanities”
- Jaydene Elvin and Jidong Chen (California State Univ., Fresno)—“Strengthening Recruitment, Retention, and Professional Success through the Community Language and Linguistics Pathways Program”
- Christine Garst-Santos and Molly Krueger Enz (South Dakota State Univ.)— “Building Innovative Pathways in Languages and Global Studies through Leadership and Public Service”
- Corrine Hinton and Cara Swafford (Lincoln Land Community Coll.)—“Thinking, Deciding, and Connecting from Class to Career: Amplifying Humanities’ Durable Skills”
- Christine Hoekenga and Chantelle Warner (Univ. of Arizona)—“Belonging by Design: Cultivating Connection in the Humanities Classroom”
- Laura Muñoz (Colorado Mesa Univ.)—“Launching LLAMAS: An Undergraduate Conference for First-Gen and Rural Students”
- Motunrayo Ogunrinbokun (Southwest Minnesota State Univ.)—“NextGen Humanities: Reimagining Student Success and Career Readiness in the Age of AI”
- Kathryn Raign and Nicole D. Smith (Univ. of North Texas)—“Three-Day Summer Bridge Program in Reading and Writing for Incoming Freshmen at University of North Texas”
- Sid Ray and Stephanie Hsu (Pace Univ.)—“Creative Writing for Civic Engagement: Cosmic Writers x Pace University Initiative”
- Georgia Seminet (St. Edward’s Univ.)—“Leveraging Bilingualism to Enhance Career Opportunities”
- Sachi Shimomura and Christine Cynn (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.)— “Developing Health Humanities for Interdisciplinary Career Readiness”
- Guojun Wang (McGill Univ.)—“Excavating Glocal Histories of Overseas Students: Building Career Readiness through Project-Based Learning and Alumni Engagement”
- Jonathan Paul Wheeler (Univ. of Wisconsin, Stout)—“Unspooled Storytellers Pipeline”
The Pathways Step Grants are funded by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation. The MLA step grants are housed under MLA Pathways: Recruitment, Retention, and Career Readiness, an initiative that equips departments and programs in literature, language, writing, culture, area studies, and related disciplines with tools, networks, and resources for the recruitment, retention, and career readiness of undergraduate students. Central to the Pathways program is the creation of new structures of support at the program, campus, and regional levels for students from groups underrepresented in the humanities.
