Passed!

This semester has been one for the books, but the results are in-- I have passed my dissertation defense and revisions! As of Monday, April 17th, 2017 I was done!! Thinking back over the milestones, it does feel somewhat strange to be at this point. At times I felt that I would never be here. I am honestly so very thankful for the support of my committee in getting me to this point. I don't take it for granted that I was able to complete my degree in three years, and I know that I could not have done it without them be ready and willing to help me through the process.

My checklist is finally complete, though, and it feels great!

The defense went pretty smoothly. For my twenty minute defense presentation, I prepared this Dissertation Defense Presentation. Preparing the presentation actually took me longer than I expected it to take. I think that it took so long because it was really hard to narrow down what exactly I wanted to include in the presentation. I cut down my 190ish page dissertation to 24 slides to present in just over 20 minutes. I designed the presentation slides based on the Hufflepuff colors, my Hogwarts house. Gotta have some fun with it!

Maureen's advice was to write a script to read from during the presentation, and I'm glad I did. My working notes kept me centered and on track. I read pretty much straight from these notes during the presentation, and then I answered questions for about 40 to 45 minutes. I answered at least three questions from each member of my committee, and then I answered a couple questions from the audience. My questions were generally focused on asking for clarification on a few terms, the decisions I made in teaching my course, and then the responses from my students.

After the questions, I went out in the hall with my friends who attended the defense and waited for my committee to make their decision. That part was probably less than five minutes, but I can honestly say that it was by far the worst part of the day. Maureen came out into the hall (with Ellie on my phone on Skype) and announced that I passed! That was a relief. I went back into the room, then, and we made a plan for completing my revisions.

After that, it was time to celebrate! My friends and I took some photos outside, and then we went to for a champagne toast and some delicious lunch at Postino Annex. That night, I ate dinner with my college roommate at Cibo Urban Pizzeria. The next day, after flying back to the midwest, Wade took me out to dinner at Bonefish Grill and gave me my graduation gift-- a trip to Harry Potter World in Orlando, FL! So fun.

The next week was spent on revisions. I completed my revisions from Maureen first, then Ellie, then Trish, then my own, then the formatting from the college. It was intense work, but I feel really good about the final product. I was able to highlight and clarify the elements of the dissertation that I highlighted in the defense but wasn't as clear in the actual draft. Submitting that finalized version felt really good, and it felt even better when I received my pass. Phew! All that's left is just to walk in the commencement ceremony in Tempe on Monday, May 8th. I'm so excited!

An Update in Photos

Instead of just describing the events of the last couple months in text, I thought I'd give an overview of what's gone down and a preview of what's to come in this semester with photos and captions. Enjoy!

Climbing Cotopaxi Volcano

Sea lions and iguanas on Santa Cruz

Just after Christmas and over the new year, I went to Ecuador. It was my first time in South America, and it was a wonderful trip. My husband Wade and I toured Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, for one week with our friend Ben and then went to Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands for the second week. 

Women's March in Madison, WI

On January 21st, 2017 Wade and I attended the offshoot of the Women's March on Washington in Madison, WI. Over one million people marched around the world to protest Trump's blatant sexism and disregard for women's rights and issues. We didn't actually march, but it was electrifying to join a group of people speaking out for equality and human rights. The quote above really exemplifies my motivation behind attending the march. As a feminist scholar and as a woman, it was an exciting day.

Sushi Birthday Dinner with Family 

The day after the march, I celebrated my 28th birthday with my family and my in-laws. We ate sushi and cupcakes together to celebrate. Another year older and, hopefully, another year wiser ;) 

During and after all that fun, I have been writing away on my dissertation. I actually wrote the majority of my sixth chapter of my diss on the plane back from Ecuador. I have been meeting regularly with my writing group, and I shared this image with them the other day. We all know how true it is! Hoping I'm in that last uphill climb now!

Background Image on my Course Shell

Apologies if this is hard to read, and I believe I have shared this quote on the blog before. This is the background image on my ENG 301: Writing for the Professions course shell in Blackboard. It is a quote from Amy Poehler that says, "and then you just do it." She is talking about writing, and it is the motto I try to communicate to my students and adopt myself. I am teaching just one course section this semester, and I have a group of really great students. They are making it easy to be a teacher, and I've enjoyed working with them in these first six weeks. 

Invitation to Present at CCCC 2017

And now for the stuff that is coming up-- I am planning to travel to Portland, Oregon in March to present at the Research Network Forum at the Conference on College Composition and Communication 2017. I am looking forward to going because I hope to gain some insight and input on my own work at the forum, plus the energy and ideas shared at Cs is always so valuable. This is the third time I have been able to attend this conference, and I've enjoyed it every time. I am able to go this time thanks to a Professional Equity Project grant as well as generous funding from the ASU Graduate and Professional Student Association. I'm also so excited to go to Oregon because the second half of the week will be spent doing a writing retreat with my writing group (actually in person!) at a beach house. I'm hoping it will get me to the end of drafting and formatting my dissertation because... 

My dissertation defense is schedule for April 4th, 2017. I'll be flying out to Tempe, AZ and presenting and then defending my dissertation to my chair and committee members. This is a big day, and I'm happy it's scheduled but also very nervous about what it means! I'll need to have my dissertation close to completion weeks before, and then I'll have to be ready to defend all the decisions and arguments I've made. If all goes well, I'll be walking in graduation on May 8th! 

That's what's been going on thus far this semester! I'll share one quote in parting from the movie La La Land that we saw on Valentine's Day (and loved!) that pretty much sums up where I'm at.

"Here's to the ones who dream/ Foolish as they may seem/ Here's to the hearts that ache/ Here's to the mess we make." 

- Benji Pasek & Justin Paul

Cultural Rhetorics & Concluding the Semester

This semester has seemed to go by more quickly than any of my previous semesters in graduate school. I'm sure that that is due to a variety of factors, including my teaching schedule, not taking any classes (hallelujah!), dissertation deadlines, but perhaps mostly to the fact that I didn't actually want it to go by as quickly. I will discuss these components of the semester a bit more, but I want to begin by posting a delayed update about the 2016 Cultural Rhetorics Conference that I attended and presented at on October 1st and 2nd, 2016.

The conference was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. I had not spent time in Michigan for several years, so it was nice to go back. The campus was lovely, and the leaves were changing all around the city. A good friend from my MA program, Lisa, lives close to MSU, so my friend Jessica and I stayed with her. I also got to visit with friends and colleagues from both my MA and Ph.D. programs at the conference. The conference in general was welcoming, engaging, and invigorating to my studies. I was only able to attend one panel on food studies, but it was probably the highlight of my conference experience. I listened to three presenters tell food stories that involved family, history, and culture. The discussion following the presentations was just as engaging with audience members also sharing food stories, swapping experiences, and asking to hear more about food traditions. In the session I posed a question to the group that I have been wrestling with since. The question is: what is a food pedagogy? I taught a food memoir in the course that I am writing my dissertation on, but I taught the class using a feminist pedagogy. I am very interested to specifically explore food pedagogy in the future.

My panel was on the last day of the conference in the second to last time slot, but the presenters were very engaging and the audience members were interested and asked insightful questions. The panel topic was online communication. I discussed the internship that I completed with Ellie Long, and I talked about how I researched, composed, and then defended the genre of a listicle on Buzzfeed. My co-presenters talked about online advice columns, audio books, and Amazon commenters. As this is panel topic was not focused on my specific area of study, I learned a lot about how and why people study online communication and the various stakeholders that are represented in this research. I very much enjoyed my time at Cultural Rhetorics, and I look forward to attending again next time that it is held. 

My semester otherwise has gone well, but as I mentioned, it has gone by very, very quickly. In November, my husband and I took a short trip to Arizona, and I met with my chair, Maureen Goggin, and my committee member, Trish Boyd. They both gave me constructive, helpful feedback on my dissertation thus far. The most encouraging but also most terrifying development was that Maureen said that I should have my dissertation ready to defend by May. This was encouraging, as I was glad to know that I was on the right track with my writing and revisions, but it was also very scary because May is not very many months away. It is amazing to me how quickly the days can go by and how little can get done in that time. I currently have three chapters of my dissertation drafted, two chapters revised, and one chapter in the beginning stages of a draft. My most pressing concern right now is fully analyzing the data that I collected from my student work and composing a chapter based on those findings. That will be my primary task in the upcoming month. It was lovely, though, to go back to the desert. I had missed, and still do miss, the sun, the mountains, the friends, the food, and the supportive academic community there. I'm glad to know that I can go back when I need to. 

And, as usual, the other main component of my semester was teaching my classes. I taught two sections of ENG 301: Writing for the Professions for ASU, and I taught one section of Written Communications for Madison College. I have finished teaching all three classes, and I can say that I enjoyed and learned from each experience. I had never taught online before this semester, and I found the key to successful online teaching is organization. I needed to stay at least one, if not two, weeks ahead of my students at all times in order for us all to feel comfortable. This set me up well, then, to teach the course at Madison College because I was teaching a simplified version of my 301 curriculum, and the Madison College schedule was set about two weeks behind ASU. I found the range of student experiences, opinions, and goals that I encountered this semester to push me to develop more concrete pedagogical deliverables, and I enjoyed this challenge and believe it was beneficial for all involved. I will teach ENG 301 for ASU online again in the spring, and I am glad to have this first semester of online teaching under my belt. 

Though it is very, very cold here right now, I have been enjoying the transition back to the midwest. I have been practicing yoga daily, settling into our new home, working in an online writing group with my wonderful ASU friend Casie, and spending time with family and old and new friends. I am looking forward to a trip to South America over the new year, and then (with a significant amount of trepidation) to the spring 2017 semester. I wish you all a blessed and happy holiday season!