Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 I have tried to use this blog series to draw attention to the long train of pivotal, often harrowing decisions that wannabe-scholars must make on their way from interested college student to professor. In every choice we make along the rocky road of graduate education—not just in our choice of advisor, dissertation topic and research community, but in the all communities and cultural movements we join outside of our workspace—we are ultimately making decisions that construct the … [Read more...] about Finding our Voice; Building our Megaphone
“Dig Where You Stand”
Janine Giordano Read Part 1, "Where Did You Find Your Megaphone?" and Part 2, "On Fitting In-With the Scholarship" Recently, in a discussion on civic engagement and the historical profession, my advisor made a statement that catalyzed language for some of my struggles at the heart of this blog series. In his encouragement to graduate students and other faculty about why they should get involved not just in national events and national problems but in the very local banalities of our lives in Urbana- Champaign, he … [Read more...] about “Dig Where You Stand”
On Fitting in–With the Scholarship
Janine Giordano Read part 1 of the series, "Where Did You Find Your Megaphone?" I was surprised, though maybe I shouldn't be, at the nature of responses to my last post. I expected to hear a variety of answers about where each of us of first found our voice and discovered our efficacy. Was it in your favorite class in college, or in your relationship with a younger sibling? Was it on a Church board, in a Parent-Teacher organization, or on a missions trip? Where did you first feel heard and validated, and see your … [Read more...] about On Fitting in–With the Scholarship
Where did you find your megaphone?
This is the first of four guest posts from Janine Giordano, a graduate student and ESN member from the University of Illinois, on the topic of cultivating your voice and finding your audience while in graduate school. When she is not teaching, she spends most of her time working on her dissertation, Between Religion and Politics: The Working Class Religious Left, 1886-1936. … [Read more...] about Where did you find your megaphone?