Final Post...

I'm done with my dissertation, so I really can't think of anymore to write.

This closes a chapter on my life.

It's never too late to be who you want to be...

I need to find out who came up with this quote--it completely describes my life, as I've had a varied career and am now about to graduate with a new degree.

An article in the NY Times today describes the laments of several recent college grads who worry about their first job--whether it is the "right" job, or how they'll know when they find the "right" job.

I wish I knew then what I know now--try something out--if it doesn't feel right--make a change or get a new degree. I knew I'd eventually get an MBA after undergraduate school, but would have never imagined myself with a PhD. Things just fell into place and I realized that my true passion was teaching business students, not necessarily being in business myself.

It has been a tough road these past three years, but now I'm moving in the direction that is meant for me.

I guess it's official...

From: Graduate Program Administrator
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 3:10 PM
To: The jmcgrad mailing listSubject: [jmcgrad] Karen Mishra

Congratulations to Karen Mishra who successfully defended her dissertation this afternoon! Best wishes as she prepares for her new job atMeredith!

Charles Krauthammer at UNC...

The Park lecture yesterday was delivered by Charles Krauthammer. In addition to being an inspirational speaker, he had one great quote that reminded me of being a graduate student. He was describing presidential politics and how you have to have a tough shell to get through the primaries because he feels like we basically say to candidates:

You may be the President, but we sure did humilitate you for a year or two!

Funny, this sounds just like grad school.

Family-friendly grad school?

Princeton is taking a surprising new approach towards helping women in graduate programs with the struggles of having or not having children in grad school. Princeton's new intiative would offer money and time allowing grad students to have more child-rearing options while in school.

I find it interesting that Princeton would see this as a critical matter, because not all schools even consider parenthood in the equation. For the first semester I was in my doctoral program, my colleagues did not even know that I had children. Not that I was ashamed of them, but it was obvious that my professors would think differently of me if they knew I had children. One professor (a married woman with no children) even spent time during class complaining about her sister who had children and what a loser-ish life this sister led. Once my colleagues did find out about my children, they began to think of me more as a mother and less as their fellow student.

The numbers of female professors who have children (or more than 1 child) are few. I waited until my youngest was in 1st grade to go back to school. I had been considering it since my oldest was born in 1994, but realized that I would be short-changing my children by going to school while they were young. It hasn't been easy even at their ages--9 and 12--but at least they are more self-sufficient now.

Maybe if other schools follow Princeton's lead, there will be more female professors--period. That alone would make graduate school much more hospitable.