PhD-ing Mamas! Acheiving and Believing in 2009! - Page 2

[shannonnc78]

I'm beginning my last semester of coursework right now. I'm working on my Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction.

I've decided to start a consulting business with some friends from my program rather than do teaching/research, which was my goal before I had DS. It's funny how things change once you have children.

[muchpeace]

Hi :

Nice to see some new folks here

For me...I am nearing the end of this pg, so I am trying to get a lot done over the next 2 months. I hope I can get as much done as I'd like, but I am also being realistic. Whatever isn't done by then, I'll have to move to a later date. The other kids are excited to officially meet the baby, so that's been fun. Seeing them get excited is so awesome, both Dh & I are also getting so excited too. : However, it's also a little nerve racking. I would rather focus on the variety of cloth diapers on the market & millions of websites devoted to them than work

Here's my plan right now:

• Teach my 2 courses--both intro, done these a million times. Nothing big, but just another thing to do.
• Finish my transcribing--making my way, I should complete it all within the next couple of weeks.
• Finish my chapters--right now I have over a 100 pages, need to fine tune things & add probably another 40 pages to complete the last few chapters. It's been so cool to finally see it all coming together. Chapters 1-4 are done (minus possible revisions, which I am sure will come), my focus will be on 5-8 for now.
• Finish my work for my old boss--not urgent but I want to get it to her sooner than later
• Wait to hear about my submission to 1 conference & present at 2 others (already accepted).
• Get at least one paper accepted to a journal or at least submitted.

I'd like to be done by Aug 2009, behind what I originally would have liked but not too bad. However, I still don't know what will happen when I actually finish; that's another area to work on over the next few months. Figuring out where to go from here.

Oh yah and the whole time I am supposed to try to remain sane & patient

[mum2sarah]

Originally Posted by Sweeney

Hey all!

I'm hoping/planning to start my PhD in Social Psychology this fall. All my applications are in and now I'm anxiously waiting for news and trying not to freak out. There are times when I'm really positive about my prospects and times when I try to prepare myself for the inevitable letters of rejection. This always interacts well with me being excited with being a single mom potentially moving my kids across the country to attend school, and me thinking that it's a stupid selfish thing to do.

I've been meditating and trying to find a place of peace of acceptance that everything will be allright... but an hour later I'm back on the internet looking at my applications again.

Nice to meet ya!

I was just lurking and thinking the same thoughts as you, Sweeny! I too am a single mom that just sent out all my apps for PhD programs in astronomy. I worry about the whole moving thing too, and I have the added complication that my ex still has partial custody of our kids. I don't know what's going to happen if I want to relocate; he said he might be willing to consider moving where I move, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to guarantee it, and proposed that we split custody over a calendar year rather than over a week like we do now. But that thought really doesn't sit well with me; I think it will be hard enough on my dd's to relocate, much less if they only get to see their dad over the summer or something.

Anyway, just wanted to add that I sympathize...hopefully it will all work out... but for now it's a waiting game to see what acceptances we have to choose from...

[nnaemeka]

hey Mamas:

check this call for papers/essays out:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
>
> Baring Witness to Our Lives as Mothers in Academia
>
> Mari Castañeda and Kirsten Isgro, Editors
>
> As more women enter academia as students and intellectual workers,
> universities
> are being challenged to rethink policies in order to ensure a
> greater balance
> between family life and academic life as well as recognize the ways
> in which
> women are reshaping the cultural and intellectual dynamics of higher
> education. Despite emerging changes, mothers continue to struggle
> for a voice
> in an academic landscape that privileges students and scholars who
> are able to
> commit countless hours to their areas of study.
>
> This volume aims to give voice to women who are or have been
> mothers as
> undergraduates, graduate students, administrators, and professors
> in order to
> bare witness to their success and the strategies they employed in
> their efforts
> to grapple with motherhood while in academia. In addition to
> testimonios
> (testimonial accounts) of women's lives as mothers in academia at
> various
> stages, the book will also include chapters that discuss
> theoretically and
> empirically the material conditions of working mothers in a moment
> when higher
> education is becoming more laborious. As the political economy of
> academic
> institutions shift towards corporate-based models of teaching, in
> both blatant
> and subtle ways, it's critical to ascertain how women's lives in
> the academy,
> and by extension their families, will be affected these structural-
> cultural
> changes.
>
> We welcome essay proposals that address one of the following areas:
>
> Being a Mom as a traditional or non-traditional Undergraduate Student
> Balancing Graduate School and Motherhood
> Parenting While on the Higher Education Administrator and/or
> Professorial Track
> Policies that Support Mothers in Academia
>
> Please send a 300-word ABSTRACT by April 15, 2008 to
> [e-mail]. edu and
> isgrok@plattsburgh. edu
>
> Complete manuscripts will be solicited after abstracts are fully
> reviewed.
> Please don't hesitate to contact us for further information:
>
> EDITORS
> Dr. Mari Castañeda, Associate Professor
> Dept. of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst,
> 413-545-1307
>
> Dr. Kirsten Isgro, Visiting Assistant Professor
> Dept. of Communication, State University of NewYork Plattsburgh,
> 518-564-2407
>
> Mari Castaneda, PhD / Associate Professor
> Faculty Adviser, www.studentbridges. org
> -
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> Communication Dept, Machmer Hall 311
> 240 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01003
> phone: [phone] / fax: [phone]
> http://www.umass. edu/communicatio n/mari
>
>

[Sweeney]

OOOOOOOH!

I'd just like to say that I applied to UMass and am now doubley glad I did so.

[nnaemeka]

hey mamas:

best of luck to all of you applying to grad school. just remember to keep an open mind and let us know when you get some acceptances/offers.

anyway, i'm attending a two day symposium next weekend with my 6 month dd. i'm not presenting or anything, just attending in search of connection and inspiration. does anyone have any tips? i'm bringing my carriers and the travel system/stroller too. i have some friends-colleagues who will attending as well and i'm sharing the hotel room w/ a friend-colleague as well. i wish i had a booster seat-high chair thingy. i just pray that dd isn't too disruptive...she's usually pretty quiet in public b/c she's so busy checking everyone/everything out. but she's quite active these days so we'll see...

[EVC]

Originally Posted by nnaemeka

hey mamas:

best of luck to all of you applying to grad school. just remember to keep an open mind and let us know when you get some acceptances/offers.

anyway, i'm attending a two day symposium next weekend with my 6 month dd. i'm not presenting or anything, just attending in search of connection and inspiration. does anyone have any tips? i'm bringing my carriers and the travel system/stroller too. i have some friends-colleagues who will attending as well and i'm sharing the hotel room w/ a friend-colleague as well. i wish i had a booster seat-high chair thingy. i just pray that dd isn't too disruptive...she's usually pretty quiet in public b/c she's so busy checking everyone/everything out. but she's quite active these days so we'll see...

OOOOOH, great question! Not to hijack you, but I have been meaning to ask something similar for a long time! What do y'all do about conferences? I have managed to avoid them thus far, but now that I'm fourth year, my dept. is starting to hint (not so subtly) that I need to start presenting things. What do you do about your kid(s)? Do you leave them with your partner (not realistic for us), or do you bring them? How does this work?

[readytobedone]

Originally Posted by EVC

OOOOOH, great question! Not to hijack you, but I have been meaning to ask something similar for a long time! What do y'all do about conferences? I have managed to avoid them thus far, but now that I'm fourth year, my dept. is starting to hint (not so subtly) that I need to start presenting things. What do you do about your kid(s)? Do you leave them with your partner (not realistic for us), or do you bring them? How does this work?

i'm hoping to go to MLA in december. by then DD will be 2.5, and i'm thinking i will leave her at home with DH, or else DH will come with me for our first alone-time as a couple overnight since she was born, ahem , and we will leave DD with my parents for a couple days. even assuming she's still nursing, i think leaving her for a couple days at 2.5 will be fine!

but definitely if i had a nursling under 1, they would come with me (and DH would come too to help out with that). between 1 and 2, it would depend on various factors, including how well the child did with solids, how long the trip was for, and if i thought i and the baby could handle the separation.

[FtMPapa]

Sweeney - I'm at UMASS, it's a great area for AP parenting!

nnaemeka - since you're not presenting, it should be much less stressful.

I looked after a colleague's six month old at a HUUUUGE conference this past summer, while she was presenting, and I think she underestimated how much spending the night in a new place would disrupt his routine. He's normally a very chill baby, but he was definitely on edge at the conference - first time sleeping in a hotel, first time away from home, first time left with a babysitter, etc.

When I saw her at sessions and stuff she and the baby both seemed fine, he was in a carrier and his usual cheerful self, but in the evenings and morning, i.e. starting the day and going to bed for the night, they faced a few challenges.

My advice is at sessions, try to sit near a door, so you can easily sneak out if you feel you should. Also, I know some babies are happier if you're up and moving, and I don't think it's at all rude to stand (at the back of the room), if it will keep DD happier. As a presenter, I see lots of people doing that, either because they're session-hopping or they came in late or whatever, and it doesn't bother me, as an audience member, I never even notice that there are people standing at the back.

Let the vicious glares slide off you, as a not-yet-but-hopefully-please-soon-please-papa, I'm always thrilled to see babies in sessions, but not everyone is, some people take themselves way too seriously.

[FtMPapa]

Hey nnaemeka, did you get that call for abstracts recently?

The submission date says April 2008 - typo or is it that old?

[FtMPapa]

Originally Posted by readytobedone

i'm hoping to go to MLA in december. by then DD will be 2.5, and i'm thinking i will leave her at home with DH, or else DH will come with me for our first alone-time as a couple overnight since she was born, ahem , and we will leave DD with my parents for a couple days. even assuming she's still nursing, i think leaving her for a couple days at 2.5 will be fine!

but definitely if i had a nursling under 1, they would come with me (and DH would come too to help out with that). between 1 and 2, it would depend on various factors, including how well the child did with solids, how long the trip was for, and if i thought i and the baby could handle the separation.

Incidentally, Readytobedone- I read this recently: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/..._their_parents

The article suggests that childcare at MLA is not only not too expensive, especially for grad students, but also very good.

An option to explore, perhaps?

(Geez, can y'all just feel that I'm avoiding some unpleasant business I should be working on???)

[nnaemeka]

Originally Posted by FtMPapa

Hey nnaemeka, did you get that call for abstracts recently?

The submission date says April 2008 - typo or is it that old?

hi there FtMPapa: i did just receive this. i'm thinking its a typo.

[suwannee]

I too am checking the mail daily and worrying....

if applications were due Dec 1- when do you think I might hear something?

I applied for a PhD in public health at a top 10 school-I heard from someone that they get 80 applications for 6 funded spots. That sounds like a really huge number, I am wondering if that is an inflated rumor or fact?

[Dar]

Probably fact... that's about an 8% accaptance rate, which is low but not unheard of. The program I'm in got over 50 applications for 2 spots last year, and I was very lucky to get one (everyone here is fully funded). I applied at some others and the numbers were similar. You can sometimes look at the school website to see the percentage of applicants accepted.

That said, a good number of applications probably get thrown into the circular file at first glance... they're from people who don't meet the basic qualifications or are just clearly not capable.

I know that my university is starting to look through the applications now but hasn't notified anyone yet (we create a short list of 6-8 candidates and then fly them out for interviews). Our deadline was later in December... but I know that other places I applied last year with earlier deadlines didn't let me know until late February.

Good luck!

Dar

[EVC]

I know that my university is starting to look through the applications now but hasn't notified anyone yet (we create a short list of 6-8 candidates and then fly them out for interviews). Our deadline was later in December... but I know that other places I applied last year with earlier deadlines didn't let me know until late February.

Yes, ours is also just starting to short list. I know last Thursday the admissions committee had its first meeting to discuss applicants, so there are no decisions (much less notification) at this point.

[jenneology]

For the doctoral student/mamas and mamas in academia, I found this:

http://www.yorku.ca/arm/motherinacademia.html

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS…
Professor Andrea O’Reilly is beginning a three-year
SSHRCC funded research project on the topic
"Being a Mother in the Academe"
The project will be based on interviews with 50 mothers across Canada, the United States, and Australia.
The interview will be approximately 1-2 hours in length.
If you are interested in participating in the study, please email Andrea O’Reilly at [e-mail].
Click here to download a description of the study in PDF format.
Full details of the study, including ethics protocol are available from Andrea.

[readytobedone]

Originally Posted by FtMPapa

Incidentally, Readytobedone- I read this recently: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/..._their_parents

The article suggests that childcare at MLA is not only not too expensive, especially for grad students, but also very good.

An option to explore, perhaps?

(Geez, can y'all just feel that I'm avoiding some unpleasant business I should be working on???)

wow, i had no idea--that's GREAT to know, especially since i might have #2 by the time i go on the market!

thanks!

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by nnaemeka

first of all to you! have you contacted your committee recently? no feedback at all? well, i suggest you just put yourself in somebody's face! (go to your adviser's office).

Thanks. Actually, my adviser is the chief problem. : I sent out several reminder emails to the committee in the last month. Finally, my adviser got the message and called a committee meeting. I met with them last week. Overall, I got some good feedback. I have to finish one chapter, write another chapter, and make my revisions by the end of this month. I hope to submit the final draft to my committee by Feb 28th.

I'm getting so excited that the end is near! I've been working on this darn degree for 9 years! Wish me luck.

[muchpeace]

Originally Posted by slsurface

I'm getting so excited that the end is near! I've been working on this darn degree for 9 years! Wish me luck.

How exciting that you are nearing the end!! :

Thanks also for the posts on the calls (jenneolgy & nnaemeka), it's always great to see what's out there.

I also talked more w/ my advisor, who is awesome. Looks after doing some work, I'll add another 30 on top of the 40 I am working on before revisions I figured as much because the more I get into the writing the more I want to write & expand sections. I am actually feeling excited to sit down to write! I still have to move over the Appendix sections to the draft of the total project . I think I am having dissertation *nesting* starting to happen, since it's finally coming to the point of getting ready to be officially *born* However, I did get a few things complete or near completion already...on my list. But as always the list grows. I am hoping that I get a summer fellowship to help me as I finish everything before defending & graduating. It would be awesome to not worry about finding work or working on something else (like teaching or someone else's research) while trying to finish my own! Wish me luck there.

Hope everyone is a good start to Feb!

[Carita]

LOL on the dissertaion nesting - I am feeling the same way. I remember this stage of exceitement too with my master's. I do want to exapnd sections considerabley though, so i am looking at being here another year to do that... and hoping I can find research $ so that it will be a good dissertation. Otherwise I feel I will have to compromise it to get it out the door.

On the conferences, I agree with finding places to escape. DH saves his vacation time for these conferences - they are usually in neat places and abutt a weekend, so it isn't too much trouble. I try to stick to the ones within driving distance to avoid paying for multiple plane tickets, but since I am fairly centrally located, it seems to have worked out okay.

Personal life update:
My son has always had issues with milk, so I reduced the amount of milk in my diet considerabely. Well this season we have ear infections, and I couldn't figure out why the ear wouldn't drain becuase we seemed to be doing the right things. Well I found the ingredients online to my newest morning cinnamon roll bakery addiction and the second ingredient was - yup sweet cream butter. Sooo - long story short, we are back on a strict diet, bringing every meal to DC and his ears are now clear. Sleeping is still spotty as we are dealing with molars as well, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Academic life update:
Not teaching this semester has been a blessing. I love teaching, but my mind is soo much clearer for research. I am excited about it again. I love teaching, but I was just so worn out last semester with the ear infections and teaching 2 classes. It def came through as disorganization in my lower level class, and my reviews stunk. Even the grad class I facilitate got the impression I was snooty. Seriously. You know what - I am happy - it tells me I need some time away from teaching to recharge the emotional energy batteries. The only part that stinks is that I think some people are dissapointed in my teaching evals and this will affect my ability to get any kind of teaching awards in the future. Plus I am upset my students did not get as much out of the experience as I wish they had.

Anyway, research is going - my advisor is gone all month - told us Friday he was leaving - the lab was in shock and kinda pissed, but its not unlike my advisor - we are all on a very "need-to-know" basis about everything in his life. We all have various grant and presentation deadlines this month and next and it would have been nice to plan ahead if we knew he was leaving to get letters and signatures, etc. I am procrastinating sending my weekly update to him since I got nothing done (this week has been full of snow days and candidate interviews). ugh!