People say the combination of physics Ph.D. student and ballroom is an odd one. They say that it's unusual to find the artist and the scientist in one body. But Robbie Fraleigh manages it without any conflict. He says that he doesn't know how to do grad school without the dancing. … [Read more...] about Movement and the Graduate Life (Scholar’s Compass)
Graduate Studies
The Samurai Number (Scholar’s Compass)
70-20-10 When you look up this number online, you'll find it associated with a business model and manager structures. But I first heard this ratio from a dancer. Jerome Subey had learned from his Karate Master in the years before he had changed tracks and become a dancer. We were lingering over a late breakfast and I was asking the table how dance had changed their lives. … [Read more...] about The Samurai Number (Scholar’s Compass)
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 3
Jonathan Warren shares the last in a three part series. Explore Part 1 here and Part 2 here. As I wrap up this series, two more things I learned from my dissertation come to mind: 4) You need to strike the proper balance between research and writing. One of my besetting issues during the entirety of my Ph.D. program was the sense that I always needed to know more about the topic than I did before I could write about it. My tendency was to consume more and more information, compile more and more detailed … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 3
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
Boston Public Library Last time I explored how important it is to have a supportive community while writing. Here I move on to lessons 2 and 3 from my dissertation process: 2) Be realistic about how much time good writing takes. I mentioned before that I'm an ENFP and find it extremely hard to focus. I'm also very social and tend to get depressed if I spend too long in the library researching and writing. One of the initial challenges for me in making progress on the dissertation was developing what historian … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1
Over the past six years, I've been enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University, studying church history. For the past three years, I've been trying to write a dissertation, which is more or less like trying to write a book–but for three or four very persnickety readers. More than once during this process I've questioned whether I would be able to finish. I never struggled with “imposter syndrome” during coursework or comprehensive exams, but during the dissertation … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1