Career Reflection and Community for 2025 ACLS Leading Edge Fellows

From July 24-25, 2026, ACLS hosted a career development seminar for Leading Edge Fellows in Philadelphia, PA. The event brought together ten current fellows from the 2025 cohort as well as alumni of public-facing ACLS fellowship programs and ACLS staff.

ACLS convenes these fellows—recent humanities PhDs working in two-year staff positions at nonprofits committed to promoting justice and equity—at the midpoint of their fellowships to reflect on their work thus far, share developing professional goals, and plan for the second year of their fellowship.

“This is a really exciting time in their fellowship journeys,” said Desiree Barron-Callaci, ACLS Lead Program Officer in US Programs. “At this inflection point, we find it’s very helpful for fellows to build community across the cohort and hear from people who have been in their shoes. Beyond sharing ACLS’s career development resources, we want to empower our fellows with connections built over shared interests.”

During the seminar, fellows shared both exciting wins and challenges they’ve faced working at mission-driven organizations amidst a difficult climate. They reflected on how humanistic training informs their work, whether in policy, research, communications, programs, or advocacy-focused roles. Fellows participated in structured career exploration activities, including an exercise led by Jessica Taylor, Program Officer in US Programs, which encouraged reflection on values shaping one’s career.

Alumni guests—former Leading Edge and Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows—shared experiences and advice in panels and informal discussions. They discussed their own career journeys and the particular strengths and challenges that come with being a PhD humanist working outside the academy.

One high point of the proceedings was the “highlight reel” in which fellows shared a major accomplishment they’re proud of from their first year. These accomplishments reflect the diversity of the work Leading Edge fellows take up. A few of these include:

• Aixin Aydin, Advocacy Manager at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, researched and wrote memos that helped a coalition pass a stronger version of Virginia’s first no-collaboration with ICE law. 
  
  
• Ashley Hollingshead, Housing Equity Specialist at North Carolina Justice Center, and her NCJC colleagues successfully advocated for Governor Josh Stein to veto HB 437— which would ban “unauthorized sleeping” in public spaces and make it difficult for organizations serving unhoused people to operate.
  
  

• Jade Williams, Strategic Programs Manager at The Petey Greene Program, presented at the ResearchAmerica! National Health Research Forum on STEM Unbarred, an initiative she works on bringing volunteer scientists into youth correctional facilities to run hands-on science demonstrations; in its pilot phase, the program has served over 500 youth in the DC area.
  
  
• Jessica Kiebler, Research and Policy Director at Sojourner House, worked to advocate for Rhode Island Senate Bill 2291, which will allow tenants who are survivors of domestic abuse to end a lease early without penalty.

In addition to formal programming, fellows also had the chance to get to know each other and the alumni guests more casually at a networking event and over shared meals.

“In this program, ‘fellowship’ is more than a grant you receive: in the other sense of the word, it’s an active engagement in building a community of interest and bringing people together,” said Barron-Callaci.