Support and Connection on the Leading Edge

From July 24-25, 2025, ACLS hosted a career development seminar for Leading Edge Fellows in Philadelphia, PA. The event included 18 current fellows, as well as ACLS staff, past awardees of public-facing fellowship programs, and career development professionals. 

 The ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship places recent PhDs in two-year staff positions at justice-focused organizations working in communities across the United States. ACLS convenes the fellows at the midpoint of the fellowship to reflect on their work thus far, share developing professional goals, and plan for the second year while building relationships across their cohort and larger community of PhDs working beyond the academy.

At the seminar, past Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows working across the nonprofit sector shared their own stories and advice for career planning in the context of rapid sector change. Many experienced a shift in presidential administrations as fellows in 2016-17, which resulted in changes across the nonprofit sector that impacted their immediate work in the fellowship as well as subsequent job searches.

The Leading Edge program’s approach to cohort-building, including the structure of this seminar, builds on previous programs like the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows program and the organization’s experience with scholars and leaders with a variety of professional pathways.

“Career navigation is most successful when supported by a community with common goals, willing to contribute their diverse experiences,” said Desiree Barron-Callaci, ACLS Senior Program Officer in US Programs. “Both Leading Edge and Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows share a goal as humanities and social science PhDs building mission-driven careers, which strongly motivates them to share varied experiences, knowledge. and resources to help develop and promote each other.”

Other guests joined to share support and advice for the fellows, including at a networking event featuring past Leading Edge and Public Fellows local to Philadelphia. Kristi Lodge, a career coach who has worked with three cohorts of Leading Edge Fellows, also joined the seminar remotely to discuss aligning job searches with core values.

Fellows reported feeling empowered and energized, and are excited to build on this momentum in the virtual professional development activities planned for the second year. 

“This experience really helped me think about framing my work for different audiences,” said Alex Christmas Stapleton, 2024 Leading Edge Fellow at Zora’s House. “Sometimes I conform to just being an element of someone else’s vision, and now I’m beginning to think about how I can really design a full career for myself and lean into my own vision.”