It Takes a Village to Raise a Doctoral Graduate

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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.