Among the questions I’d ask members of the program to consider are:

* How can we open up opportunities for students and faculty to engage digital tools and methods in their work?

* What changes do networked reading and communication devices/platforms portend for the way we understand digital textuality and encounter texts of various kinds?

* To what extent might we be willing to consider collaborative work at the dissertation stage?

Aside from questions specific to DH, I wonder whether we might also situate this discussion within larger trends in academe. Here are some starting questions:

* To what extent should the structure of the program be responsive to the academic job market?

* Given the increasing corporatization of the academy and what many see as the gradual erosion of the tenure-track system, how can we best prepare our students for a range of careers?

* To what extent does our program require/encourage/foster the kinds of skills that are valued across a range of careers?

As we think through these issues, I’d encourage members of the department to read through Katina Rogers’s Mellon-funded report, _Humanities Unbound: Supporting Careers and Scholarship Beyond the Tenure Track_ http://libra.virginia.edu/catalog/libra-oa:3480 , which reports on an investigation into perceptions about career preparation provided by humanities graduate programs.

For those short on time, here is a direct link to the Executive Summary: http://katinarogers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Rogers_SCI_Survey_Executive-summary_09AUG13.pdf . I would particularly encourage a collective program discussion of the recommended actions for graduate departments:

* Evaluate and modify required aspects of graduate-level curricula in favor of including courses that help students to prepare for the wide-ranging career paths that they may pursue upon completion.

* Rethink standard methods courses to structure them around a collaborative project in which students must apply a range of skills toward an end goal centered on methodological understanding.

* Create one-credit courses that center on ecosystems crucial to the academic landscape, such as academic administration and scholarly publishing.

* Form more deliberate partnerships with inter- and para-departmental structures—either within or outside their home institution—that are already engaging in this kind of work. Humanities centers are an excellent example.

* Cultivate partnerships with the public sphere, both to provide graduate students with valuable experience and exposure, and to make a clearer case for the public value of humanities education.

* Encourage (and provide funding for) students to become members in relevant professional associations, even if the students do not intend to pursue careers as faculty.

* Work to expand the understanding of what constitutes scholarship. Encourage faculty to develop collaborative project assignments that allow students to work together in a variety of roles and to communicate their findings to an array of audiences.

* Critically examine the kinds of careers that are implicitly and explicitly promoted to students, and consider ways to increase the visibility of the varied paths that scholars pursue.

* Make a much stronger effort to track former students (including those who may not have completed a degree), and to encourage current and prospective students to connect with former students.

I look forward to the “Open Letters” discussion process and thank the program for creating this space for conversation.