Week Nine: Finding a Niche

One of the most enjoyable components of graduate education is the opportunity to mold curriculum to individual interests.  As a supplement to core coursework strong electives can help provide unique marketing opportunities for the professional impact of each student.  Electives and additional coursework build cognates, which are similar to minors in undergraduate education. They serve as a group of courses that help to construct a field expertise.

The challenge of this process comes within the process of choosing courses that both meet interests and are marketable within a designated professional field.  If this was drawn as a venn diagram it would include the intersection [C] of a circle titled “field needs” [A] and another titled “professional passions” [B].  

The challenge of this search is that it is unique to each person.  

The way I have started to break this down is by considering the following factors:

1. What are my goals upon graduation?
• I plan to apply for faculty positions, so my research should fill a field void and begin a research niche.
• If I were to be pursuing administrative work my research could compliment my work to solidify professional expertise and supplement my future professional administrative work.
2. What are my realistic areas of interest?
3. How do these interests fit within my field of study?
4. What courses would compliment this pursuit best?

This is an evolving process, but reflecting on it over time will help to seek out courses that come up throughout the program that might supplement my cognate. It is important to me to find courses that are a strong fit, this will likely involve patience which is difficult because it would feel so much better to have a degree plan laid out. I just have to remind myself that there is plenty of time.

A quote "every passion has a destiny" by Barry Miles rings true to me as I consider this process. The development of this quote actually has an interesting story. I firmly believe that it is the goal of each of us to find out what out greatest passion is in life and find a way to pursue it in everyday life. It is my hope that targeted coursework can help me find that path, and I hope you find yours too.

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.

Week Eight: Homeostasis

In the 1996 film Bio-Dome two quirky characters (Bud and Doyle) get roped into a project to rescue self-contained environment project.  A plot twist incurs where substantial damage is done to the dome that needs to be repaired internally.  As the film progresses Bud and Doyle work hard to restore the “Bio-Dome” to homeostasis, or “the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties” (Homeostasis, 2011).  To me, being a graduate student is at times like physically being an organic dome  that undergoes unnecessary or unusual stress, much like the stress put on the Bio-Dome.  We too need to constantly seek out ways to retain homeostasis and balance within our lives.

As another perspective on this similar thought I am reminded of the book Tau Te Ching roughly translated as “the book of the way”.  This book is a modern translation of the writings of the philosopher Lao-tzu originating around 500 B. C.  Within this book one of the entries states the following,

“Being and non-being create each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

High and low depend on each other.

Before and after follow each other” (Mitchell, 1988, p. 2).

This quote eloquently describes the extremes that exist in life and how they are dependent on each other.  There are extremes in everything that happens in daily life, and at times those extremes are created by us as individuals.  This thought helps remind me that within doctoral graduate study it is important to remain level headed and balanced.  To not celebrate productivity too hard, and to not let the work load weigh you down too much.  To not let great results get you too high, or to let poor results get you too low.  The process of graduate study is about learning, so we must remain focused on what lessons and feedback are available to us to learn from.  For the next three years there will always be plenty to do and it will only be accomplished one word at a time.  Remaining on the level can help to preserve and balance emotional peaks and valleys associated with the journey.

I don’t intend to sound like we should all take on the qualities of drones that just slowly drudge through our work.  I am just realizing that if I let it, the work load and stress associated with graduate study could weigh me down more than it should.

I will try to remind myself of this as I continue to make progress through the work that remains this semester and in semesters to follow.

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.


Resources:

Blumenthal, J. (Producer), & Bloom, J. (Director). (1996). Bio-Dome. [Motion Picture]. United States: MGM.

Mitchell, S. (1988). Tao te ching. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Week Seven: Re-Group

This is a little behind schedule, my apologies.  I have been on fall break, which relates to the topic of the week.

Within the semester there is time built in to give students a chance to re-group and re-energize.  This week was fall break and it was nice to have some time to relax and look at projects that lie ahead throughout the semester.  That was my activity for this week.  Getting refreshed, and re-grouped to be as aggressive as possible with the remaining work of the semester.  This rest will pay off in fighting off germs and illness later on in the semester (I hope).

This time also serves as a good chance to evaluate what lies ahead and what the priorities remaining for the rest of the semester are.  This includes working ahead on some projects that will take considerable time and effort, reducing the stress that will be be present within the closing weeks of the semester.

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering.

• Work small amounts on final projects each day of the break to chip away at them and feel a bit more confident in their direction.