I’ve learned that my Master’s program prepared me very little for the rigors of doctoral studies. I have learned how demanding this, and probably most, doctoral program is and that I cannot rest and be confident in my ability to “coast” through. There was certainly no coasting and I enter my second year with a bit of trepidation. I will still have a full course load, still work as a research assistant, still teaching, but will also be reading/studying for my qualifying exams and writing my dissertation research proposal. It’s hard to imagine exactly how much harder this year will be, but it is guaranteed to be even more challenging.

I’ve also learned that a demanding graduate program can be very isolating. Moving to a new city, hours away from family and friends, is both an exhilarating and depressing experience. Of course, I’ve moved around a lot and haven’t lived near family in 11 years, but the pressures of graduate school are more intense than those I’ve faced before. (And it’s a tall order to beat the time I had to find an apartment in Scotland within two weeks without ever having been there before!) Demanding work and school schedules coupled with hours upon hours of studying and trying to grasp abstract theoretical concepts left no time to socialize, release anxiety, exercise, or eat well. Through this process I’ve also learned exactly how much my metabolism has slowed since I reached *certain age*. I’ve learned to feel very thankful for the things I now have in my life. I have grad school friends; some old, some new; I have my loving boyfriend here with me now; and I have a much better understanding of what I need to do to take care of myself; emotionally, intellectually, and physically.

I have learned that although I worry about everything, I am often capable of completing the task set before me. Sometimes the work is satisfactory to all, but much more often I am my own worst critic. I think I am capable of so much more that what I actually produce; am frequently disappointed in myself. However, this view is not as frequently shared by others, who often compliment my talent. I’ve learned that I am actually good at some things and others will tell me when I’m not. Not usually in a mean-spirited way but as thoughtful criticism to make me better, work harder, be stronger. No one is singing my praises unless they actually believe them. I need to believe them too.

Related to the third lesson, I’ve also learned that I am not always going to please everybody. Sometimes I don’t get it right the first time, second time, or maybe after many more tries. That I’m not perfect shouldn’t be a surprise to me but it does always come as a huge wave of disappointment. School is a learning process and everyone learns differently; at different rates and in different ways. Sometimes things I do or say are meant with the best intentions but come out wrong or are taken the wrong way. Most importantly, I’ve learned that it’s okay if someone just doesn’t like me. I have to accept that and get on with my life.

I’ve learned that it is important to make time to relax. I have been doing a lot of that this summer, in fact I may be past relaxed and in the territory of boredom. However, I needed this summer as a time to recharge because this next year promises to be grueling. Despite the pressures of deadlines and trying to “sound smart” or be the best in class, I will be taking more time this year to do things that take my mind of school. I will not feel guilty for reading a non-school book for pleasure. I will not feel bad about taking an hour or two to go to the gym. I will spend time with my friends. And, most importantly, I will take time for my boyfriend who so devotedly moved to Lexington to be with me and help me through these challenging times. I will not be dead-weight; I will work on this relationship as hard as he is/does/has.

Lastly, I have learned that although I have never been super close with my family, there is no time like the present to forge new bonds and relationships. I will stay in more regular contact with those who still love me even though they are too far away for me to see it. I will make more telephone calls instead of hoping people are reading my facebook page. Of course, I know that’s not even the best way to keep up with my doings since I post things like, “check on this article on deficit spending!” and “I had toast for breakfast.” Actually, I’ve never posted that second one but the point is that there are very few useful updates posted to facebook and so I’ve come to realize it is no substitute for actual conversation. I’ve learned that it is very selfish to hunker down into my studies so much and that others can help me in many ways if I just make the time.

I also promise to blog more often. For me, the internet has always been a place to share exciting new research that I’ve come across and am thinking about how to utilize in my own work. But blogging can be a way for me to talk about other things besides nerdy research stuff, besides, don’t I do enough of that all day long at school/work? Maybe I’ll divide up my webpage blog into a professional space and a personal space ….. More to come ….

However, the news wasn’t all bad. The article reported on a 7 year study that aimed to identify best-practices to reduce the number of dropouts and the number of years to completion of the doctoral degree.  Many of the 20 universities participating in this study are close to my heart: University of Michigan, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University, and Michigan State University. More great news is that this is only one of a few studies of this nature that aim to reduce PhD attrition rates.

In glancing at the recommendations made in this article, I can see that a few of them are not currently feasible. Most notably, “increasing financial support” comes to mind.  The article cites  the success of the University of Michigan’s Rackham Engineering Awards program in graduate retention.  My understanding is that engineering doctoral students already have a higher retention rate than many other programs. Additionally, it is much easier for universities to scare up the funds to support such programs as engineering and biomedical sciences.

Where is the extra funding for anthropology and education programs going to come from? Funding for anthropology programs appears to be quite dismal and has been for some time. However, this comes at a time when more and more business and marketing companies are realizing the potential benefits of having anthropologists on staff.  Applied anthropology appears to be getting recognition in may other fields but the funding behind the programs is just not there. A comment made to the article was posted by a student in a social sciences/humanities program at one of the universities participating in the study. That individual told of how funding was cut while he/she was in the middle of studies and had to find full-time work in order to support themselves. Balancing 40 hours a week at work and doctoral studies in social sciences (that often require or strongly urge studies/research abroad) is often too  much for students.

Another recommendation is to improve student support during research and dissertation work. This one seems obvious, but I have experienced programs in which the faculty are so busy with their own research and full-time teaching commitments that it appears keeping up with all their advisees is too much.  I am not sure exactly how to make sure the advisors have more time to spend with students but it appears to be working at Ohio State and Marquette universities.

At the bottom of this article is a section for comments from readers. An interesting post is from Dean at a graduate school who stated that administrators are caught in a catch-22 because they are asked to fill a certain number of spots for their programs to remain viable. Oftentimes this leads to admitting students who are not fully prepared for doctoral studies or not ideal candidates for the job market thereafter. How are graduate programs to deal with this conundrum?

Although I applaud the study for addressing these problems in graduate schools I am curious to see what universities and which programs in those universities are actually able to make these necessary changes. Many of these recommendations seem obvious, but there are many reasons those recommendations are not currently being addressed in many universities. I only hope I can make it through my own doctoral studies  that begin in the Fall!

Please read more about it here.

The Bluegrass Community and Technical College Faculty Conference on February 27, 2010 was a rare instance in which I felt like I had learned something very valuable from a conference. This conference was not just a bunch of faculty reading their recent research but was instead directed toward improving our teaching. Most of the sessions were about teaching online, which is something many community college faculty members across the country are being ‘voluntold’ to do. There can be quite a bit of apprehension about teaching online for the first time. Even once you have been doing it for a while, you soon realize how much work is involved in keeping up with the latest technology and online pedagogy.

At the risk of sounding like I am promoting one individual speaker, Dr. Jeff Butterfield from Eastern Kentucky University really stood out from the crowd at this conference. His exhuberant presentation style was engaging but, more importantly, his learning lessons were invaluable to my current online teaching dilemma. He presented on how to increase the instructor’s presence in an online class with some very helpful take-aways that I can’t wait to implement. I find it very rare that a conference will leave me so inspired to try new things (with exact instructions on how to do it!). I look forward to getting to re-design my online courses this summer to include these new techniques. I also look forward to next year’s BCTC Faculty Conference. It was well worth the hour and a half hour drive!

I am a firm believer that it is always a good thing to educate the general public about anthropology.  However, articles written in popular magazines sometimes need to be fact-checked in the anthropological literature.  I am impressed with the recent (December 2009) National Geographic article on the Hadza of Tanzania.

The Pros

The author seems to have done his due diligence on researching the group as well as framing his narrative as just that – his experience with the band.  There are not many broad statements about the whole cultural group and those that are made appear to be validated (see “Why the Hadza are Still Hunter-Gatherers” for an anthropological ethnography of the Hadza).  For example, the author states that the Hadza seem to have a “minimalistic” religion with no concept of an afterlife. It was also stated that the Hadzane language does not appear to be related to any other with only a handful of individuals in the world who are bilingual in both Hadzane and English.

My favorite ethnographies are ones where the authors are able to make astute observations while at the same time able to interject their own feelings about their experiences.  The best part of this brief, but informative, article is the hunting scene that is described throughout. This article reads like a novel in that it keeps returning to suspenseful scenes of a baboon hunt in which the author is absolutely terrified. The author is also able to portray some of the daily life of the Hadza, such as the quarrels that occur between spouses and band members.

The Cons

My only gripes about this article are the continuous references to the “ancient” lifeways of the Hadza and the rather maudlin statements made as the author is leaving the group. First, there are a few references to how little their foraging lifestyle has changed over the last 10,000 years. He states that anthropologists hate to make statements like that and releases a single caveat that we cannot really think of them in those terms, but then returns to making these statements about their “unchanged existence”.
Secondly, the author admits he was only in the field for 2 weeks during the relatively pleasant dry season but waxes poetic about how his short time with the group had changed him to the core. They “altered his perception of the world” and made him “feel calmer, more attuned to the moment”.  He goes on to state that his “time with the Hadza made [him] happier” and that he wished to prolong the reign of the hunter-gatherer. Although this seems like the sort of portrayal of emotion that I should enjoy, it  was just a little cliche for my taste.

Final Thoughts

Otherwise, I was very pleased with this account of the Hadza. I believe it was written in a way that would reach many of its readers and get them to think a little more about this small cultural group, the effects of globalization, and anthropology in general.