Confessions of a Struggler

From October 29th for a period of two weeks, I participated in a boot camp writing experience facilitated by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. Each day of the 10 working days, we were expected to write for at least 30 minutes and post online indicating how much time we actually spent, how much we accomplished, and the challenges encountered.

Every book I have read about writing productivity indicates that the most writers write every day. I have struggled with disciplining myself to write daily, some weeks are better than others. This boot camp really helped me to realize the benefits of daily writing. Granted, some days I wrote just before midnight to make sure I had something to report. Accountability works!

Over that two week period, I managed to draft a manuscript article, writing a total of over 7000 words. I managed to take a break on one weekend (that was one of the requirements). I still need to learn to take a break at least one full day a week, I need to learn to keep a sabbath (not just a few hours on Sunday morning). I know my physical, emotional and spiritual health depends on learning to take a sabbath, to rest and rejuvenate.

This week I didn't do daily writing. I found myself getting off track, my attention was diverted by the so-called tyranny of the urgent. So now I find myself not having written anything in the past 4 days. Luckily, I have a writing retreat coming up this weekend, hosted by Temple University Writing Center where I can make up and hopefully also make progress. I had determined after the retreat this summer that I would find shorter retreats, boot camps and other writing help wherever I could, especially those close to home that are also affordable. Whatever I learn, I try to practice, and I share with faculty in my learning community, my doctoral students, and you all. I keep subjecting myself to these helps so that eventually, I will find what works best for my schedule, temperament and writing needs.

I challenge you to find what works for you that will enable increased productivity. Whether that is choosing one day a week as your writing & research day (many faculty do that), or finding just 30 minutes (or more) for daily writing (probably more achievable for doctoral students who are also working adults with families and other responsibilities), and/or even what we are attempting to do with my doctoral students - 'once-a-month' writing boot camps, find whatever works then stick with it.

All the best with your writing goals whether its for dissertation/thesis, journal articles, books, or leisure writing. If you have approaches to getting it done that have worked for you, kindly share.

A Modest Report about Our Inaugural Writing Retreats

In the last few weeks, I have had the privilege (and disappointment) of reviewing my calender to see where all my time was going. Very little of it was going towards accomplishing my writing goals. The tyranny of the urgent was taking over most of my time.

So, I decided to re-evaluate where I was spending my time, and sought for more effective ways to accomplish all my goals - teaching, dissertation advising, conference presentations/preparation, and writing for publication. Somewhere within my weekly schedule, I also need to re-insert my physical fitness and wellness goals, and make sure I accomplish those too.

In my attempts to help myself, as well as my constituents - faculty and doctoral students - to meet our writing goals, I scheduled two writing retreats, or as one doctoral student dubbed them, boot camps.

The writing retreat for faculty was for just half a day, 9-12 on a Friday. Unfortunately, I scheduled it on a day when I needed to be away on fieldwork. However, the faculty tell me that it went very well, they wrote quietly for the three hours and then engaged in feedback about the process during lunch. Six faculty members who are part of my Faculty Learning Community attended this inaugural retreat. In my book, that was a great turnout! I am very encouraged and look forward to facilitating the next one, which will be one day long in December.

The doctoral candidates boot camp was one day long on a Saturday since all my students are working full time. Even though it had been advertised to all the local students from our program, only two showed up. Not a great turn out, but I am still very encouraged and will continue to offer such intensive writing times to support their dissertation completion goals.

So what did I learn from these inaugural retreats?

First of all, that it is important to have a goal for the retreat, one that can be accomplished within the time limits. Because accomplishing a set (small) goal contributes towards the overall goal, and more importantly, helps us to feel that we are making progress.

Secondly, that you don't need fancy facilities to make it work. The faculty write-in was in a colleagues house, students met on campus (thankfully it was a very quiet Saturday, allowing for focused time).

Thirdly, next time I offer the doctoral boot camp, I will include the option of participating via Skype or Adobe Connect. That way, those students who are not local, or who cannot otherwise come to campus, can find some other quiet distraction-free space in which to work, and enjoy the benefits of camaraderie.

And finally, accountability helps in goal accomplishment. Having to share what we hope to accomplish within a given time period, then reporting back and maybe even asking for feedback all work towards enabling us to accomplish our writing goals. I felt a certain gratification in saying these are the four items on my agenda at 9:00 in the morning, and reporting that I had accomplished those four items at 4pm that day (modest though each of them was).

What are the strategies that you employ to enable you to accomplish focused writing time?

THE MONDAY MOTIVATOR: WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK? - National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

THE MONDAY MOTIVATOR: WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK? - National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Determining a Dissertation Topic at the Beginning of Doctoral Studies

Greetings from Seoul, South Korea! The summer is quickly coming to an end (and so is my summer gallivanting...the school year is almost upon us!) I am writing this post with those who are beginning their doctoral journey in mind.

The beginning is exciting, but can also be angst-inducing as many will ask "so what is your dissertation topic?"

However, that question is perfect at this early stage in your journey; it should motivate you to start to articulate your dissertation topic ideas, and get early feedback from fellow students as well as faculty and even interested non-academics. If the topic is not in perfect shape or form yet, that is to be expected. The two or three years of coursework will provide you sufficient opportunity to refine the topic.

If you do not know what you would like to study for your dissertation, that ought not be a problem either. The first year is a time of discovery and exploration.

In my Introduction to Research Methods course, I ask students to brainstorm three potential dissertation topics and come to class ready to discuss them. Essentially, this exercise allows them to think about their interests, and conceptualize those interests into research-able ideas. Some of the  questions asked in class include:

a. What is the problem you seek to investigate?
b. Why is it important to investigate that problem?
c. Why is the problem of interest to you?
d. How long would it take to engage in the study?
e. How passionate are you about the topic/problem?

These initial questions help students to clarify their ideas and choose just one of the three topic areas of interest to focus on for the rest of the semester. In subsequent assignments, they are able to further refine the topic by writing preliminary proposals on how they could potentially investigate the problem using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The final assignment is a literature review on the topic/problem.

By the end of the semester, each student is better able to determine whether the topic and problem they'd chosen to study is actually feasible, worthwhile, and whether there is indeed a sufficient literature base upon which to build the study.

My advise to my Intro to Research Methods students is to use subsequent courses to further refine their topic. Those who follow this advise find that by the end of their coursework, they have a proposal ready to defend, and thus can proceed to the dissertation phase expeditiously.

I want to encourage you all who are beginning your doctoral studies now, or who are in the early stages to think about doing something similar to help you focus your coursework towards defining and refining your dissertation topic. The sooner you determine your dissertation topic, the better as coursework can be more narrowly focused towards developing the research proposal.

What other dissertation related advise would those of you who are over on the other side of the journey offer to the newbies? Comments and questions always welcome.  

Highly Recommended: Writers Retreats

The past four days, I have been sitting and writing furiously at a writers retreat hosted by Mitch Reyes at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. I have yearned to participate in a writing retreat for the entire time that I have been on the faculty end of my academic career. I am so glad my yearning became a reality, finally.

So I am taking a break this fourth day of retreat to encourage you to consider a writing retreat in your near future. Whether you take a retreat by yourself, or join a group as I did, it is definitely worthwhile. In fact, my roommate and I have covenanted to find one day a month as a 'writing retreat' day, where we can spend all day working on a project.

Here are the benefits of the writers/writing retreat, as I am experiencing them:

a. Having several others (in my case, 23 others) all focused on writing is the best social pressure to get your own writing juices flowing.

b. Sometimes when you have a large project, having a focused writing time is the best way to get it off the ground, make good progress, and therefore feel encouraged to trudge on towards completion.

c. It provides you with accountability during the retreat, and if you design it intentionally, continued accountability afterwards. You can have one or two writing partners with whom you communicate your writing goals and your completion rates as frequently as you agree upon.

d. Most of us have so much else going on in our lives that though we want to, developing a daily writing habit and sustaining it is difficult. I believe it is easier to develop said habit after a writing retreat, because your juices are flowing and you are more motivated to keep it up.

e. The organized writing retreats include sessions aimed at discussing writing tips and raising questions. The shared wisdom is priceless. Finding out that you are not the only one who struggles with various writing issues helps to come up with solutions that have worked for others.

When all is said and done, I am enjoying this writers retreat because it is also perhaps the first time in many years I have done something that is purely just for me - I do not need to prove anything to anyone, I do not need to engage in impression management (which, whether I am conscious of it or not, always takes place in academic conferences), I can focus on just spending time with myself. Already, I feel refreshed and renewed, ready to tackle whatever lies ahead in the coming academic year.

I therefore highly recommend writers retreats. The communitas, camaraderie, support, and buzz will keep you energized long after the retreat concludes.

Fighting Procrastination for a Productive Summer

As it turns out, having deadlines is a good thing, for me at least. Because a deadline pushes me to get-it-done, whatever 'it' is. In this case, getting writing done. Am now in that unenviable position of being on summer break, having a bunch of writing projects, but finding myself procrastinating because most have no deadlines.

You see, last week I had a deadline. I worked day and night, and met that deadline...granted, that was after asking for more time :-). Once I met that deadline on Friday, I haven't been able to get back to writing since, until today that is, when I grudgingly opened up my Google docs to start looking at my writing projects.

A few weeks ago, I was all Gung Ho about the summer, and how productive I was going to be. Now, am realizing that if I don't get my act together, it's going to be a disappointing summer. I cannot travel far, so I might as well do something, be productive.

So here is my plan.

First of all, I am revising my summer writing goals. OK, so its not too bad. I have accomplished one goal - a book chapter for the handbook of autoethnography co-authored with one of my colleagues. A second goal is in process - copy editing the book Collaborative Autoethnography  which I co-authored with two of my colleagues, forthcoming from Left Coast Press.

Secondly,  what I need to do is look at 3 other goals and projectize them. By projectizing (yes, I know thats a made up word), I mean to break down each goal into its constituent parts. For example, I presented a paper at the Eastern Communication Association meeting in Boston last month, it was a very rough draft. Now I need to start reconstructing it, and discussing with my co-authors the details of how we will work on the paper, including potential journal to send it to once completed. I need to do that with each goal - craft a project out of it.

Thirdly, I then need to introduce each project to my summer calender.  That means, for example, deciding which project to work on each week, how many hours to spend on research, reading, drafting, revising, until each project is mapped out towards completion. For example, this week here is what I plan to accomplish:

-->

Date	Goals and activity	Personal goals
June 19-23	Teaching: ·      Check discussions ·      Dissertation reviews Writing: Collaborative Autoethnography ·      Meet with HC and KAH (Wed) discuss copy editing; discuss CAE methods article; discuss AERA proposal ·      Read through CAE manuscript, check headings. Craft response to copy editor. Email by Wed night. ·      CAE Methods Paper – Outline Writing: CAE Advisor/GA Relationship ·      Collect AE data from MM ·      Craft outline of paper ·      Determine other AE data needed ·      Write proposal for JRP special issue paper	Replace dead roses Pilates Yoga  Date night

I will do the same type of scheduling for the rest of the summer, where I introduce my writing goals and projects into the entire summer schedule. Each time I accomplish a part of the process, I strike it out. I find deep satisfaction in having a week where most items have those strike out lines because it means I was able to accomplish my writing goals for that week. And that is a tremendous aid to fighting procrastination. The more I accomplish, the more motivated I am to do more. If I do not create this kind of schedule, I find that I procrastinate, and worse still, whatever does not get scheduled does not get done.

How do you keep your writing mojo over the summer months?

Professors Behaving Badly

This post has been simmering on my mind for quite a while. Based on many stories that I have heard, and experiences of some people close to me, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that there are indeed, thesis and dissertation advisors who ought not be advisors, leave alone professors. While I am grateful that my personal experience was positive and life affirming, I have observed other students bad experiences as to be prompted to write this post.

Take the example of Johari Simiti (all names changed, some might be composite characters, in order to protect the innocent). JS is a grad student at a state university. While he doesn't always meet his deadlines, he does a decent job of being close to the deadlines. Now, take the case of Jaribu Tafadhali, JS's primary adviser. When he initially looked around at graduate programs, he had a talk with her and was excited to enroll because she appeared to be pretty close to ideal - someone whose research interests coincided with his own. However, when it got done to the thesis advising stage, things didn't quite turn out as JS had expected. First, she left for an entire semester to work abroad, in which time she failed to communicate or read his proposal until after her return - even after promising to do so. So he was delayed by more than 4 months. The next semester, things went from bad to worse. She could not seem to find time in her schedule for her thesis advising work. JS eventually completed his thesis first draft, after being told what due dates he needed to meet in order to defend and graduate at the end of the summer (one semester later than he should have). However, the feedback he got was "this is not ready for defense, and I dont have the time to read and review it, so you should plan to graduate in December".  No actual feedback, no details about what is not ready, therefore the student cannot do anything with it until someone tells him exactly what is not ready/needs to be revised.


Or the case of Dada Mwema, whose advisor would take 3+ months to give feedback on drafts, left on sabbatical so she did not hear from him for a whole year, and came back to continue with the same slow pace of feedback. She eventually completed her PhD, 10 years after she started it.

Or Dada Mwepesi, whose two advisors could not see eye to eye, and every meeting, every feedback session turned into a fight between the two. Worse still, since both advisors were also administrators, there was nowhere else for Dada Mwepesi to turn to for help. She did eventually complete her PhD, but not without much angst and unnecessary drama.

I still remember a case of a grad student at an Ivy League institution, who was having such a hard time trying to complete her doctoral dissertation because of a lazy and mean-spirited advisor, that professors from other institutions had to intercede on her behalf.

One more story; a group of students completed their coursework (in the same program/institution), but they all dropped out after successfully passing their comprehensives because they could not get any support on the dissertation phase.  That points to a huge systemic problem right there when you have a 0% graduation rate for an entire cohort!

I could give even more stories about advisors from hell and the poor students who have had to endure these professors antics. In most cases, such professors work well with their graduate research assistants, as far as giving them work to do in order to propel the professors research agenda. But when it comes to being advisors, they seem to be ill-equipped, or maybe they are just not as interested unless the students work will help them advance their own research agenda.

I do remember being in a doctoral consortium in one of the professional associations that I belong to, where they were advising doctoral students that when they became junior professors, they should never forget that their first priority is to do research and get published. Teaching is something you do because you have to...therefore do the bare minimum to get by/have decent evaluations. My colleague and I actually dared to ask the question, why on earth would you give that kind of advise to grad students? Didn't they realize they had just given us an explanation as to why some grad students had such a heard time getting through/meeting their advisers/getting feedback? Thankfully, its a small minority of professors behaving badly who seem to believe that they should prioritize their research above all else - including their teaching, advising and service obligations. Maybe such professors ought to go work with lab rats and leave the teaching profession to those who love to teach/advise/work with students. 

So, if you find yourself under the tyranny of a professor-behaving-badly, what options do you have? 

I must confess, I do not have all the answers and welcome feedback from those of you who have survived such, and those who have good ideas on successful strategies for navigating the minefield.

Since prevention is better than cure, I would first recommend that, before you choose someone as a thesis or dissertation advisor, you find out from previous students what it was like working with him/her. This 4-1-1 could save you tears, frustration and delayed completion.

If you are already in the situation, I'd think the first line of defense is to talk to other committee members or department chair to find out departmental protocols - such as, what is the expected turnaround time for drafts? Are there systems in place for conflict resolution? Are there systems in place for replacing advisers who are unable to meet their obligations?

Finally, do not go through the experience alone. Call in your social support network because it is times like these that you need their emotional support, prayers and comfort. Talk to other students to find out if others are having similar experiences, because if they are, it is easier to then take action by approaching the administration as a group.

I welcome feedback, comments, stories, and even resources that those students who might be going through this kind of experience can know that there is hope. And I hope and pray that if any of my readers are in this situation, they will find hope and help to make it to the end.

Always, Dr Faith

Celebrating Newly Minted PhDs...and looking forward to your own success

On May 12th 2012, I had the distinct pleasure to hood three newly minted PhDs who were my "children", I served as chair of their dissertations. Four PhDs graduated on that day as the first ever PhDs to be 'produced' at my current place of full-time employment. The doctoral program here is only in its 5th year, so it was a very big deal to see these four succeed. Two of them from the first cohort took just under 5 years to complete, and the other two from the second cohort took just under 4 years to complete their doctoral journeys.

The following week, I was facilitating the dissertation seminar for cohort 3, and invited three of the new PhDs to come to the session and share their experiences. Unfortunately, I had to run out and missed their sharing, but I do have a good idea about what enabled them to join the ranks of timely completors. You have already heard/read from one of them in a previous post - Keith Keppley, PhD. The other two, Danny Kwon, PhD and David Wolf, PhD have not yet shared through this avenue, but like I said, I do know enough about their experiences to share what I believe contributed to their timely completion. Of these three, two (Keith and David) were my advisees, and Danny tells me he benefited a lot from reading this blog.

One of the 'completion enablers' is the ability to stay on task. For many doctoral students, engaging in doctoral study might be one amongst many other activities that you are engaged in - including parenting, elder-care, work, and social life. Ensuring you prioritize the dissertation will contribute towards timely completion; if you fail to prioritize it, then you might end up as one of those doctoral candidates who is rushing through the final few months to complete before the institutional deadline.

Secondly, life happens. However, you must be able to bounce back and get into dissertation mode no matter how often life interrupts your completion goals.

Thirdly, I have said this before - reward yourself along the journey. Small rewards for every milestone achieved such as completing the proposal and successfully defending it, completing data collection, completing analysis, etc. Rewarding yourself along the journey will keep you motivated and energized.

Drs David Wolf, Danny Kwon, Terrina Henderson-Brooks and Keith Keppley after their hooding ceremony at Eastern University, St Davids, PA USA. 

Fourth, let the people in your life be part of your support group. The four inaugural graduands shared stories about how their life partners and doctoral colleagues served as copy editors and sources of encouragement.

That is me with my back to the camera, hooding Terrina Henderson-Brooks, PhD.

I posted the images from the graduation as a way to inspire you to keep working at it. Whether you are at the beginning of your doctoral journey, in the midst of developing a proposal, mired in data analysis, or getting close to the end, let this be a reminder that 'this too will end' opening up doors of opportunity for you to use your newly acquired knowledge and credentials in the marketplace of ideas. Godspeed!

As always feel free to email me with questions and prompters for future blog posts. Or post your comments to enlarge this conversation. 

Dr Faith

Working the Dissertation Writing Plan

Just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Eastern Communication Association
in Cambridge, MA where I attended a session on graduate education. Eventually the conversation veered towards how to support doctoral students towards completion of their dissertations. Some of the ideas I have shared here were reiterated there; one highlight for me was the idea about creating structure after comprehensives/preliminaries/qualifying exams to enable students to make progress on the dissertation.

One professor shared how in their program, they have created due dates and deadlines by which students should submit various portions of their dissertation. Others felt this might be too structured for some students, particularly if those deadlines are created by the program. In some programs, the most important deadline is the defense date in order to graduate by a particular end-of-semester (e.g. must defend by end of March to graduate in May).

I think there is a way to create a structure that supports your efforts at writing your dissertation. It is to create a plan in cooperation with your dissertation advisor. That plan should include due dates for major sections of your dissertation. The easiest way to do that is to start with your intended graduation date, then work backwards to determine when you have to defend, when you have to submit the completed document for committee review, when you need to submit each chapter/major section, etc.

Once you come up with your plan, introduce it into your daily, weekly and monthly calender. That is, ensure that there are periods of your calender dedicated to achieving your dissertation goals. As many writing coaches will tell you, the best way to achieve your writing goals is to write daily. Waiting until you have huge chunks of time to write especially if you also have a busy work and family life is often not effective. Off course there may be seasons when you can dedicate entire days and even weeks to writing...but that is often the exception rather than the rule. 

As much as it depends on you, work that plan! When life happens (as it often does), then revise your plan accordingly. Be sure to keep your advisor abreast of your progress and any changes. Like you, your advisor quite possibly works on schedule, so any changes to your schedule affects hers. Be courteous by keeping her informed. If you cannot meet a particular deadline, inform your advisor in good time so she too can adjust her schedule.

When you achieve a milestone (such as complete a chapter, or data collection, or defense), reward yourself. Do not wait until the very end to reward yourself, do it along the way. This will keep you motivated and energized along the journey.

As always, all the best. Comments and questions welcome.

An Ode to the first African woman to earn a PhD in East and Central Africa

Voice and leadership: AN ODE to/Portrait of Wangari Maathai

(I read this poem at the Wangari Maathai celebration event: Brooklyn College CUNY, March 28th, 2012. I wrote this poem in the spring of 2011, I had no idea Professor Maathai was struggling with ovarian cancer. She passed away in September 2011, I added the last stanza after I heard about her passing.)

Miriam Wangari

Mary Josephine Wangari

Mary Josephine Wangari Muta

Wangari Muta

Wangari Muta Mathai

Wangari Muta Maathai

You have been known by many names

Names imposed on you

Names you imposed on yourself

Names you earned by marriage

“I am not an object

the name of which

can change with every new owner”

I now pronounce myself

 Wangari Muta Maathai

Once and for all!

Inspiring

A story of courage

Conflict

Conviction

A story of strength

Serendipity

Sagacity

A story of adversity

Advantages

Admonition

Courage to pursue your dreams

As serendipity placed you

In the right place at the right time

Courage to stick to your convictions

As fate placed before you

Insurmountable challenges

Divorce

Jail

Job loss

Jail

Broke

Jail

Hunger strike

Jail

How many academics

Have left the ivory tower

For the grassroots struggle?

How many

After working so hard

To earn tenure and promotion

To gain equality of the sexes

On university campus

Would take that fight to the street

Just when all seems to have settled

Getting your braids

Cut off

Pulled out

Piled with dirt

In the search for justice

Persistence

That ought to be your ‘anglo’ name

I now baptize you

Persistent

Resilient

Resourceful

Radical

Mother

Through struggle

Release political prisoners

Hunger strike with the mothers

Getting strength from motherhood

In the midst of personal

Political

Struggles

Pioneer

First woman to earn a PhD

1971 was a very good year

Yet

Not celebrated

Not even a small article

In the local dailies

Long journey to success

Divorced

Because you were apparently

Too strong

Too educated

Too successful

Too stubborn

Too hard to control

1979 was a very bad year!

“My greatest claim to fame

Was that I was married

To a man who was getting rid of me”

Publicly

Loudly

Media circus

Were they making an example of you?

Lest any woman

Should decide

To be strong

Educated

Successful

More than her owner/husband!

1982 was a very tough year

Failed attempt

At running for parliament

Road blocked 

By government

On whose wrong side

You’d found yourself

Lost university job too

No home

No job

No money

Professor Resilient

Never give up

Never give in

Rise from the ashes

Like a phoenix

Focus on Greenbelt Movement

And National Council of Women of Kenya

Leading both

To success

In the midst of

Financial struggles

And rise up

Lead

Political struggles notwithstanding

2002 was a very good year

Entry into parliament

But alas, assistant minister for environment?

What the *&^%!

Why on earth?

After all the sustainability leadership

You’d already demonstrated,

Assistant &^%$ minister?

2004 was the best year of your life!  

First African woman

Nobel Laureate!

Then the celebrations

Reverberated

Through university

City

Country

Continent

And the world!

Success

The sweetest revenge

No need to raise arms

Instead

The sweet smell of success

Is now your legacy

Success

To wipe away the tears

To swipe away the sneers

Of those who placed barriers

In your path

At university

In government  

In [un]civil society

Success

Now they call you great

Honorable

Nobel Laureate

Professor

Mother 

Activist

Global leader

Africa’s hope

Wangari Muta Maathai

Gone way too soon

We were not ready for your sudden departure

We were not prepared for you to leave us yet

But

You have fought the good fight

You have won the race

Now rest

We will pick up where you left off

In our universities and city halls

Our colleges and communities

Our parliaments and political parties

Until justice as you envisioned it

Becomes reality for all

Celebrating Successful Defense...and Getting Yourself There

I haven't posted here for almost a month because I have been extremely busy trying to meet deadlines. Two of my doctoral students needed to complete their dissertations and defend by March 30th, to be able to graduate in May 2012. They both did. Congratulations to Keith Keppley, PhD, and Terrina Henderson-Brooks, PhD! Keith's journey was just under 4 years; Terrina's was just under 5.

So tonight I celebrate Keith and Terrina, who have kept me very busy throughout the month of March. And David Wolf, PhD who preceded them by defending in January. Three doctoral students are now doctors. The journey does come to an end. It may take 4 years, or 5, or 6...but eventually, it does come to an end. Then maybe, you enter into the domain of life-long learner. And 'holder of the discipline'.

So how do you get to this place of celebrating a successful defense?

I have learned a few lessons from directing these three students, and many others who are in the pipeline.

1. Create a plan, then work that plan. 
2.  Avoid taking a new job before you complete your dissertation. Many have been derailed by taking new jobs...Off course if you do have to take a job, then go back to 1 - create a plan, then work that plan. Some institutions (for those who look to enter academia) will hire you as ABD. However, it is contingent on you defending your dissertation within a given timeline, failure to do so would result in either being fired or demoted. For those who are already working (thus doing doctoral studies part-time) taking on a new job or added responsibility has the same potential to derail your progress. So if you do take that new job, or those added responsibilities, be sure to count the cost.
3. If you can, it is advisable that you keep more or less the same pace as you did during coursework. Maintaining the same pace has the potential to help you get to completion sooner. Deciding that coursework is over so now you can relax...that can derail you. 
4. Talk to those who had a timely completion. Learn from their example. They can tell you which strategies to employ and which pitfalls to avoid.
5. Ensure you have social support and accountability, people who will encourage you and keep tabs on your progress. Per my "it takes a village" post, you need others in your life to help you achieve timely completion. Folks who are willing to copy edit your documents, folks who are willing to help with child or elder care...etc. 
6. Finally, create a plan, then work that plan. Yes, I am repeating myself. Its THAT important. 

All the best! And as always, be sure to engage by commenting or asking questions.

Wordle summary of blog posts: clarity on goals, community, conferences

The wordle provides a summary of my post ideas so far:  

·      Attend conferences, the benefits far outweigh any associated financial and time costs. 

·      Create community with other doctoral students

·      Utilize your existing community as a source of support 

·      Be clear about the goals you have for your dissertation study 

·      Tend to relationships - familial, academic, community/church, research, etc

Today rather than post new ideas, I want to welcome your feedback and questions. 

 What questions would you like me to answer during the month of March? What are some issues you wish to see covered in the blog this month? 

It Takes a Village to Raise a Doctoral Graduate

-->

Community Matters

The thesis/dissertation journey can be very lonely. There seems to be an expected solitary nature of the dissertation process, involving long periods of work by yourself, often accompanied by distance from friends and family, and sometimes unsociable behavior. The attitude is often “don’t call me, don’t ask me to participate in church, don’t make any demands on my time because am waaaaay too busy writing this monster”. Living further away from campus, which is the new norm with the doctoral programs that employ online/blended learning formats, and experiencing challenging life events during the candidature period can contribute to delayed completion. Further,  the transition from coursework to independent study can be stressful and lead to delayed completion.

I am suggesting then that when coursework is done, and/or you life further away from campus, and when ‘life happens’ (which it probably will), the best way to get through and make it to completion is through community. The doctoral researcher needs the support of colleagues for brainstorming sessions and support networks, other people including community and/or organizational liaisons to initiate access to data collection sites, and familial support. The norm of solitary writing cooped up in a library carrel or your home study really ought to be balanced with social, emotional, and spiritual support of others. Sometimes it may require doctoral candidates to create intentional community with other students including those from their own institutions, and those from other institutions to offer each other the intellectual and emotional support necessary during this phase of doctoral work. I know the benefits of such community first hand, having experienced it with several fellow sojourners in the academy. We would check on each other periodically, celebrate when each one completed the journey, and now we offer each other professional support through the job search, tenure, and promotion process. In other words, the doctoral students with whom you travail through that doctoral journey are likely to become life long professional colleagues.

A second form of community that is imperative for success is familial community. Having family members who can take over child and elder-care responsibilities for periods of time so that you can focus on research and writing is very important. This is particularly true of the kind of doctoral candidate entering our institutions these days – mid career professionals who have work, family and community responsibilities. When doctoral researchers are able to renegotiate some of those responsibilities and roles, they are then freed up to spend the quality and quantity of time necessary for timely dissertation completion.

Community is important for success in this journey; multiple communities play different roles in helping us survive and succeed in the journey. Harnessing the strength, support and spirit of your community/communities could thus enhance your dissertation research journey. The academic/intellectual community of fellow doctoral sojourners offers the support and accountability you need to complete your dissertation. The extended family offers support to manage your home responsibilities. For those who are also working as employees or employers, renegotiating some of their responsibilities at work (such as reduced travel expectations) and/or delegating responsibilities to others would ensure you not only complete your dissertation, but that you keep your job, if that is one of your goals. In the final analysis, am convinced that it is important to harness the benefits of the community/communities of which you are a part to help you reach completion and do it sooner. The doctoral journey ought not be a lonely and lonesome, antisocial journey. And, its unlikely that you can do it all alone. It ‘takes a village’ to raise a doctoral graduate.

Developing a Scholarly Identity

When I first embarked on graduate studies way back in the year 2000, I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do with that degree...that is, beyond doing what I was already engaged in, but better. But you know, life happens! The 'doing what I was already engaged in' part of my story unraveled rather fast. And I found myself with a masters degree but without a job. However, in my two years in that graduate school, I developed a strong desire to study leadership, inspired by events in the school, in my local church, and in my previous work experience as a school teacher.

Even though my job unraveled, I was able to 'reposition' myself by going for further studies, this time traveling abroad to the middle of the cornfields of Ohio to start graduate studies in leadership and organization development. And once again, I had no clear goal in mind as to what I would do with the degrees once completed. All I knew was that, this was the next step to take. It didn't take too long though to start figuring out what ought to come next.

In August 2004, a friend invited me to accompany her to the Academy of Management annual meeting which was being held in New Orleans. This was my first ever academic conference, and though I was not presenting any papers there, I learned a lot about the options for graduate students and the culture of academe. I made friends with a student from New York, and another from Switzerland, and with my friend, we became four women graduate students supporting each other until all of us graduated. We are still friends and still support each other in our professional development. As I soon learned, this is one of the advantages of attending academic conferences.

I have been to many academic conferences since then - University Council for Education Administration, American Educational Research Association (AERA), Eastern Academy of Management International (EAMI), International Leadership Association, even one African Studies Association meeting. Yes, I am unapologetic in my transdisciplinary orientation, (though these days I can only attend one conference either AERA or AOM, in addition to ILA, partly because I needed to define my academic home more closely, and partly because the money to attend more conferences simply isn't available). I have even been to a few National Communication Association annual meetings- my first year there, I spoke with a  SUNY Press acquisitions editor about my book idea, and the rest, as they say is history (they published my book in 2010). Well, she was the 4th or 5th acquisition editor I spoke to at that conference, all the rest rejected my book idea. Yes, rejection is part of academic culture too...you just dust yourself off and move to the next editor/journal until you find one that will publish your work.

Attending academic conferences and presenting papers (conceptual, empirical, your developing research, your research reports, literature reviews), are one of the most important ways to develop a scholarly identity. A lot of the publications you see as books and articles quite possibly began life in the marketplace of ideas as academic conference presentations. So I want to encourage you to look for at least one academic conference in your discipline that you will make your home, and make an effort to attend the annual meetings. In the US, there is always the option of attending the regional meetings of the national associations, which are likely to be closer to your geographic location and cheaper as far as registration costs and hotel accommodations. For example, this year Eastern Academy of Management  annual meeting will be in my hometown of Philadelphia in May, so though I missed the deadline to submit a paper, I plan on attending. After all, it will only cost me the registration fee. I might also attend African Studies Association since their meeting is also in Philadelphia.

I cannot possibly overemphasize the need and urgency of becoming a member and attending these disciplinary professional association meetings/conferences. From them, you will receive mentoring into the profession,  and join a community of like-minded individuals who can be co-researchers, critical readers of your work, and even your future employers. All the academic professional associations offer programming specifically aimed at meeting the needs of graduate students - from feedback sessions on dissertations, to advise on the job search process, to training in research methods and directions on how to get published. Most include not just scholars, but reflective practitioners invested in their continuing professional development with whom you can network. You would get to meet with graduate students from not just other institutions, but other countries too, who can become part of your network of co-researchers, conference co-presenters, and who would offer you the support you will surely need to complete your dissertation, and later if you join the academy, to survive the tenure track.

I recognize that all the conferences I have mentioned have their 'home base' in the US. However, there are conferences taking place in Europe, Australia/NZ, Asia, and even my home continent of Africa all the time. For example, in January 2013, Academy of Management will hold its first Africa conference in South Africa. The International Congress of Psychology will hold its 2012 conference in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2012. The International Congress of Cross Cultural Psychology will hold their bienniel conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa also in July 2012. And these are just the ones I am aware off, there are probably many more such conferences happening in other parts of the continent and for a variety of disciplines/professional associations. Furthermore, apart from these kinds of international conferences, universities host smaller localized conferences to which you can either submit or attend as audience member, that would also be good opportunities for networking and getting involved. Whatever your geographic location, I would recommend that you find out what is happening around you and beyond, see what you can afford to attend (some conferences will offer free registration to graduate students willing to serve in the conference), and get involved. You will be glad you did.

What is the Purpose of your Study?

It is not worthwhile to go around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar (Maxwell 2005, citing Thoreau)

It is important to be clear about the reason why you are undertaking your study. An unclear purpose will result in a muddied up process, and therefore, results that may not be either credible or valid. The purpose statement is the central controlling idea in a study (Creswell, 2009, p. 111).

Maxwell (2005) “Qualitative Research Design” recommends that researchers write regularly and systematically about their research for the researchers own consumption, as well as for discussion with others. In his very helpful chapter 2, he discusses goals of research leading with the following question: Why are you doing this study?

The point is that you need to be clear on the purpose of your study, and that purpose has to lead to a question/questions whose answers are worth knowing. Clear goals serve as a guide for your study= goal here includes desires, motives and purposes, whatever is leading you to want to engage in your study.

Maxwell reminds us that goals a) help to guide your other design decisions to ensure that your study is worth doing, and b) they are essential to justifying your study.  It is likely that you have personal, practical and intellectual goals for you study. Personal goals motivate you to engage in the study but may not be of much value to others (e.g. need to advance your career, desire to change a situation). Often, personal goals influence your choice of dissertation topic, and are likely to impact your motivation (and persistence) through the dissertation process. More often than not, personal goals remain unstated – however, it is helpful to be clear on what your own personal goals are even if you will not discuss them in your study. Off course if you engage in qualitative, there is room to indicate the personal goals that are impacting your choices. For example, one of my mentees chose to study successful African immigrant faculty in US institutions, one because she is an African immigrant, and two, because as someone who desires to enter the professorial ranks, she is interested in learning how they ‘made it’. Another chose to study long term health care because this was his industry for many years as owner of nursing homes, and he consults to nursing homes today – thus his study would help to improve his consulting work. Being clear about your personal goals also enables you to be reflective of your subjectivities – it helps you beware of looking only for the answers that fit your presuppositions.

Practical and intellectual/scholarly goals are important to you as well as to other people. Practical goals focus on accomplishing something, meeting a need, changing a situation, achieving a particular objective; intellectual goals focus on understanding something, often filling a gap that other research has not adequately addressed. The second student (now a newly minted PhD) mentioned above, aimed at improving his own consulting practice by gaining a better understanding of leadership praxis within the long term health care industry. His study was endorsed by one of the industry professional associations in recognition of its practical utility.

Generally, the intellectual/scholarly goal of your study is framed in terms of ‘purpose statement’. This begins with a sentence such as:

The purpose of this study is to…(a verb here, such as evaluate, explore, explain, describe, determine, examine, etc. You then expand on that purpose in several sentences/a paragraph. 

Your practical goal is framed in terms of the “Significance of the Study” where you talk about the relevance or practical utility of your study to practitioners – teachers, administrators, managers, pastors – the ‘second’ audience of your study. Your significance section also discusses further your scholarly goal by discussing how your study will expand our understanding of a particular area of study. In qualitative studies, you would need to discuss your personal goals, either in chapter 1 or chapter 3 (Introduction, or Methods) with a sub-heading such as ‘role of the researcher’, ‘researcher presuppositions’, ‘researchers predilections’, ‘how I came to this study area’…etc.

Both Maxwell (2005, chapter 2) and Creswell (2009, chapter 6) offer helpful templates for constructing your purpose statement. Maxwell offers templates/exercises for constructing a purpose statement for a qualitative study. Creswell offers templates for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs. Both provide excellent examples of well crafted purpose statements.


Maxwell, Joseph A. 2005. Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. 2 ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage. (3rd Edition will be published by June 2012).

Creswell, John W. 2009. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

The Relational Nature of Research

This week I spent several hours working on a manuscript with a colleague, constructing a paper on relationships and communities in research. In the process of writing, I also ended up doing a lot of reading, trying to get clarity on issues such as power differentials between researchers and participants, vulnerability, reflexivity, and other topics related to autoethnography/qualitative research design. I came to the realization that, some of the issues where researchers use their authorial power to represent participants the way they want to, without caring how such participants would feel about how they are represented, is perhaps a failure to recognize the human dignity of 'others', and perhaps not a very good use of researchers power.

Reflecting on this failure - of recognizing the human dignity of others - whether marginalized or not, made me realize that, part of what I enjoyed doing in my own dissertation work, was choosing to keep the confidence of my participants. This was a dialogic process, where I was open to hearing about anything and everything, but also told them that, they were free to tell me what they would rather I kept just between us (Ngunjiri, 2007, 2010). I endeavored to give [most of] them transcripts of our interviews, so they'd add/subtract whatever they saw fit. For a few, it was logistically impossible since I transcribed the interviews after my return to the States.

You see, even though I haven't seen most of those women since I collected my data in the summer of 2005, I believed then (and now) that "brief encounters do not necessarily mean superficial connections...[I] see relationships as more than vehicles for data gathering, more than points of access. [I] see then as central to the empirical, ethical, and humanistic dimensions of research design, as evolving and changing processes of human encounters" (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis, 1997, p138, 139). Obviously, this is mostly true of qualitative research designs, where relationships are/ought to be king.

Authentic relationships that engender reciprocity and symmetry, that encourage skepticism and appreciation, and that are built on trust  (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis) can help us in achieving our research goals, while also building/rebuilding the communities we purport to represent. I may not have seen the participants from my study in the seven years since, I may never meet with them again; however, I hope that when they read what I said about them, how I interpreted their life stories, the way I constructed their narratives, and celebrated their achievement as women, leaders, Africans, and human beings, they will always feel affirmed and will recognize the essence of who they are in my work. They do not have to agree with all my interpretations, but I do hope they see themselves even more clearly through my portraits. That is what it means for me to engage in research, while keeping "relational concerns as high as research" ( Ellis, 2007, p. 25). Think about that as you engage in designing or undertaking your own research. What is your relational responsibility - or, what do the relationships developed through your research require of you?


Ellis, C. (2007). Telling Secrets, Revealing Lives: Relational Ethics in Research With Intimate Others Qualitative Inquiry, 13(1), 3-29. doi: 10.1177/1077800406294947

Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J. H. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ngunjiri, F. W. (2010). Women's spiritual leadership in Africa : Tempered radicals and critical servant leaders. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Ngunjiri, F. W. (2007). Painting a counter-narrative of African womanhood: Reflections on how my research transformed me. Journal of Research Practice, 3(1), article m4. Retrieved from http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/53/76

Selecting a Dissertation Advisor

The doctoral completion literature suggests that choosing a dissertation advisor is perhaps the most important decision a graduate student can make; having the right mentor/chair can spell the difference between timely completion and endless ABD (All But Dissertation). I write this from the perspective of the US doctoral education system, where students undertake 2-3 years of coursework, engage in some kind of qualifying examination, then proceed to the dissertation phase. However, its possible that the advise below would be relevant to those in the European model that does not include taking courses, where the advisor one chooses during the admissions process is the primary/dissertation advisor throughout the process. So, how to choose? Carefully, I say...

Choose a professor who is enthusiastic about guiding your thesis/dissertation, one who is invested in your success and completion.

Choose a professor who has an interest in your topic. If he/she is an expert on your topic, even better.

Choose an advisor who works well with others, especially the others in your committee. Having committee members fighting while you are trying to get done can derail you. In most cases, your chair can help you in selecting other committee members, ensuring that you have people who can work well together (i.e. chemistry) and who bring complementary skills. 

If your chair is not a methods expert in your particular research approach, ensure that someone else in your committee brings that expertise to the table. In most cases, you most often still need to do extra work on your own to become an expert in the research methods that you choose to employ for your dissertation.

It is best to choose a dissertation advisor who has experience playing this role. Granted, in newer programs, there might not be any faculty who has played that role before. In that case, your choice would be guided by the other factors above, and off course by your experience with various faculty during the coursework phase.

Choose a professor who is willing and available to work with your time deadlines/time to completion. There is no point in choosing a chair who would be on sabbatical when you most need him/her, for example. Sometimes faculty believe that the process should take a certain length of time, based mostly on how long it took them to complete, which may be much longer or shorter than your own time to completion desires. Have that conversation about time to completion early, so that you are fully informed before making that choice.

Talk to other students in your program, especially those further along because they can give you 'the down low' on who amongst the faculty is time conscious, guides enthusiastically, provides critical and timely feedback, is collegial and generally works well with others (students included).

This may not be a comprehensive list of all the points to take into consideration in choosing a dissertation advisor/chair, but should serve as a starting point.  I strongly believe that the doctoral journey is a relational journey; therefore, I would urge you to choose your chair/advisor carefully, ensuring that it is someone with whom you share chemistry/ability to work well together. Your chair/advisor will serve as your mentor, will/should introduce you to the discipline (including appropriate academic conferences), most likely will write your recommendation letters, and, in many cases, his/her networks may be the starting point to developing your own (particularly for those who intend to join academe after doctoral completion).  

For those who are either in the dissertation phase, or who have long completed the process, what other factors are important in selecting the adviser? Kindly add those through the comment box below. Other feedback welcome too.

Turning your Dissertation into a Book - Some Lessons Learned

Turning your dissertation into a book - some lessons learned

Before this resurgence into blogging, my last post was in February 2009 just after I completed and submitted the manuscript for my book  Women's Spiritual Leadership in Africa and I thought its time to talk about some of the lessons I learned working on it. You see, this book is based on my dissertation research Tempered Radicals and Servant Leaders: Portraits of Spirited Leadership amongst African Women Leaders. Here follows a few of the lessons I learned from this experience.

First of all, plan with the end in mind.

If you know you would like to turn your dissertation into a book, then the topic selection, sample/population, even methods ought to help you prepare a study that will have an audience wider than your three or four committee members.

Granted, my topic selection was based more on my positionality as an African woman in the US, my past experiences with/of leadership and my personal/political goal of telling a more positive and celebratory story about African women. But in the end, to be able to find a publisher willing to take a risk on a 'untested', 'junior', emerging scholar, the topic has to be of interest to a sufficiently wide audience. Imagine my surprise when I noticed on Ohiolink Electronic Thesis and Dissertations yesterday that my dissertation has been downloaded 2080 times (upto 9/2011)! That number does not include any downloads through Proquest. It probably helps that it is freely available on the web through Ohiolink...meeting another of my goals, to provide materials to African students and readers who do not have access to Proquest and other subscription databases.

Second lesson I learned in turning the dissertation into a book was to realize that, very few publishers would be willing to publish the dissertation in its normal form. As such, it took a couple of years to rewrite a lot of the material for a wider audience. You see, dissertations tend to have a form and structure that is aimed specifically at academic audiences. There are a lot of redundancies, the format aims at demonstrating a certain logic to research design (i.e. how the study was conceptualized, what literature supported it, the methods utilized, the results found, and their implications). Even though in certain respects, my dissertation was slightly different from most traditional dissertations (such as, chapter 4 - results - was actually several chapters, some focusing on individual portraits of women leaders, others describing the common themes that emerged from the data), I still needed to reconstruct it, remove the redundancies, expand some of the chapters, and completely remove some chapters to appeal to a wider audience.

Finally, on the advise of my mentor Professor Judy A Alston (Ashland University), I milked that dissertation for all it was worth before publishing the book.

For those whose trajectory includes joining the academy as professors, where 'publish or perish' will be a reality, the dissertation needs to serve as your research agenda, at least for the first few years. As such, you want to publish as much from it before it turns into a book. Otherwise, once the book is published, it becomes more difficult to derive journal articles from the same material. When constructing the dissertation, as mentioned above, chapter 4 (results) was split into several chapters. Some of those - on servant leadership, tempered radicalism and spiritual leadership - were turned into articles with some editing and rewriting, but the heart of each chapter was left intact.

For those whose trajectory is the practitioner world, you may want to publish your dissertation into a book and also, write articles for practitioner journals or magazines for your particular guild. Either way, after spending all that time working on a dissertation, milk it for all its worth!

Comments, feedback and questions welcome!