Okay, so I am borrowing J's phrasing - but I am having the opposite kind of experience this week. I am spinning out of control and my days are running one into the next....I can't get a handle on what I need to work on and I am working on everything else. Whew...so tired and it's only Wednesday.
This is the other side of the student issue - teaching a class, working with students, answering phone calls related to the class and finding that my time is basically consumed by the class so far this week. Oh time management gods - please help me!
When I did sit down to work on something related to the PhD process, I can't seem to find the software I need to work on it. Hmmm, a little disorganized and a whole lot frustrated about now :)
The positive part? Well, I am going to reach out to my chair for some much needed support and I know that I will get it. That keeps me going. That and I know that someone taped American Idol for me tonight.
That's all for now! L
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A feeling of positivity in a world filled with chaos
A grounded, down to earth, helpful, giving PhD . . . who'd a thunk it?
My chair, we'll call her NG, is WONDERFUL! I could not have asked for a better person to chair my dissertation committee. A little history . . . I originally had a committee of people who did not like each other. It was a bad time . . . So, I went to NG and she agree to chair my committee and we developed a new and improved committee. I will not go as far as to say that my committee is free of PhDivas or PhDivos as the case may be, but my chair grounds the whole thing. I heart her. NG knows when to call me on my shizz, as well as, when to complement my shizz. She admits her own weaknesses, and advises me very well. Yes, folks, this is a love fest. She is by no means perfect, none of us are - no matter what we may think of ourselves :) - but, she rules as the chair of my committee. An example - the last two days, I have had a spurt of creative/productive energy. I don't really know where these spurts come from, but I have learned to ride the wave. So, I have spent the last two days updating two chapters of my dissertation, my cv, and a little document called my research agenda. I have sent these docs to NG, and she has been on the ball sending them back to me with "embedded comments". Therefore, rather than floundering in a sea of procratination and despair, I have been productive. With NG's help, I have re-developed my CV, and have completed my research agenda.
For those of you who don't know - because I didn't - a research agenda outline my past, present, and future research interests. Now, if I were completely honest, I would say that my future research interests would be to leave me the "f" alone, and let me research and/or publish at my leisure . . . however, in academia, that is a luxury we are not afforded. So, a potential University employer has asked me to create this document. . . And, with NG's help, it is finished. That being said, I'm not sure if what I've written is exactly what I want to do - more likely, what potential salary and insurance giver wants me to do - but, alas, that is the name of the game.
I've written enough for now, I just felt like on this blog, where we might be more critical than praising, that I would provide some positivity in a world filled with chaos ( I cannot take full credit for the last half of that sentence as it is an adapted quote from the movie Clueless).
My chair, we'll call her NG, is WONDERFUL! I could not have asked for a better person to chair my dissertation committee. A little history . . . I originally had a committee of people who did not like each other. It was a bad time . . . So, I went to NG and she agree to chair my committee and we developed a new and improved committee. I will not go as far as to say that my committee is free of PhDivas or PhDivos as the case may be, but my chair grounds the whole thing. I heart her. NG knows when to call me on my shizz, as well as, when to complement my shizz. She admits her own weaknesses, and advises me very well. Yes, folks, this is a love fest. She is by no means perfect, none of us are - no matter what we may think of ourselves :) - but, she rules as the chair of my committee. An example - the last two days, I have had a spurt of creative/productive energy. I don't really know where these spurts come from, but I have learned to ride the wave. So, I have spent the last two days updating two chapters of my dissertation, my cv, and a little document called my research agenda. I have sent these docs to NG, and she has been on the ball sending them back to me with "embedded comments". Therefore, rather than floundering in a sea of procratination and despair, I have been productive. With NG's help, I have re-developed my CV, and have completed my research agenda.
For those of you who don't know - because I didn't - a research agenda outline my past, present, and future research interests. Now, if I were completely honest, I would say that my future research interests would be to leave me the "f" alone, and let me research and/or publish at my leisure . . . however, in academia, that is a luxury we are not afforded. So, a potential University employer has asked me to create this document. . . And, with NG's help, it is finished. That being said, I'm not sure if what I've written is exactly what I want to do - more likely, what potential salary and insurance giver wants me to do - but, alas, that is the name of the game.
I've written enough for now, I just felt like on this blog, where we might be more critical than praising, that I would provide some positivity in a world filled with chaos ( I cannot take full credit for the last half of that sentence as it is an adapted quote from the movie Clueless).
Monday, January 28, 2008
Defining the diva...
Yes, I concur with J on the initial thoughts about just what the PhDiva is! Sadly, there seems to be a trend that pushes academics toward their inner diva. So how do we begin to the define the diva?
This will be difficult to do in the space of just a few posts...hence the need for the whole blog :)
What happens in the classroom of the diva?
Perhaps it is because we had the chance to work in the real world prior to pursuing an advanced degree - but I think both J and I tend to go the other route...I NEVER seem to forget what it is like to be in student shoes (flip-flops, clogs, whatever the shoe may be).
But the diva - well, they are often so far removed from who they interact with - it is almost as if they are 'phoning in' a performance in the classroom. If they are spewing their knowledge to the masses below - well then, the diva has taken hold.
What happened to actually teaching....maybe we should step back and look at what the purpose of higher ed is all about?
Just an initial thought - more to come! L
This will be difficult to do in the space of just a few posts...hence the need for the whole blog :)
What happens in the classroom of the diva?
Perhaps it is because we had the chance to work in the real world prior to pursuing an advanced degree - but I think both J and I tend to go the other route...I NEVER seem to forget what it is like to be in student shoes (flip-flops, clogs, whatever the shoe may be).
But the diva - well, they are often so far removed from who they interact with - it is almost as if they are 'phoning in' a performance in the classroom. If they are spewing their knowledge to the masses below - well then, the diva has taken hold.
What happened to actually teaching....maybe we should step back and look at what the purpose of higher ed is all about?
Just an initial thought - more to come! L
Don't Be a PhDiva
Alright folks, I'm not sure that anyone will be interested in this blog or not, but here it goes. I am setting up this space for me, J, and my friend, L, to post about graduate school. More specifically, we will use this blog as an outlet for all of the frustrations, roadblocks, and successes (yes, occassionally there are happy thoughts) that we experience as we come to the tail end of our journey towards PhD-dom. L and myself are in the final year of our PhD process, and in this time, we have stumbled into some very interesting situations. Some good, some bad, and some very very ugly. The title for this blog was created in a conversation that L and I were having about some of the professors with which we deal. We have tried to keep track of all of the bad stuff that has happened to us in an effort to avoid becoming a "PhDiva". Don't get me wrong, we have encountered several professors who have offered a wonderful example on how to be a good prof. However, the bad examples seem to FAR OUTWEIGH the good ones. Therefore, this blog is a moral imperative.
For me, a PhDiva is someone who obtains a PhD and chooses not to wield their power in a benevolent manner. One who takes themselves WAY too seriously, and believes that, oh let me think, that they are curing cancer as opposed to instructing classes and conducting their own brand of research. They become so far removed from their population of interest that their research becomes somewhat meaningless. . . . de-personalized . . . simply a routine. As you can tell, I am not a particular fan of these folks.
Well, that's pretty much it. If anyone reads this blog, feel free to comment, L and I would love to hear your experiences and comments on ours.
Happy writing, studying, and dealing with the higher ups!
For me, a PhDiva is someone who obtains a PhD and chooses not to wield their power in a benevolent manner. One who takes themselves WAY too seriously, and believes that, oh let me think, that they are curing cancer as opposed to instructing classes and conducting their own brand of research. They become so far removed from their population of interest that their research becomes somewhat meaningless. . . . de-personalized . . . simply a routine. As you can tell, I am not a particular fan of these folks.
Well, that's pretty much it. If anyone reads this blog, feel free to comment, L and I would love to hear your experiences and comments on ours.
Happy writing, studying, and dealing with the higher ups!
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