Dissertation Revisions

It's Done!

As of Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 I have earned a Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University

#almostphdone

CCCC 2017

The 2017 CCCC Annual Convention in Portland, OR was a wonderful conference and an amazing week. I arrived in rainy Portland on Tuesday night and had some lovely Oregon sushi. The main portion of my conference activity was on Wednesday when I attended the Research Network Forum, and I really enjoyed the day and learned a lot.

I had initially proposed to discuss my dissertation work, but by the time the actual RNF came around, I thought that advice about the job market would be more helpful. So, I presented parts of my dissertation in the two roundtable sessions, and I asked about ways that I could present my research on the job market and publish my work. The advice that I received in the roundtables, from presentations and discussions about publishing, as well as from my meeting with a faculty mentor was very helpful. I have a clear direction for my work and ways to prepare to go on the market.

The rest of the conference I spent attending sessions, meeting old and new friends, and soaking up the energy of the conference attendees. The city of Portland was dynamic, engaging, and very fun to explore. I found a lot of good places to eat and great places to meet up with friends from the conference and chat more.

The most refreshing part of the week was at the end when Casie Moreland, Jessica Boykin, and I drove to Neskowin on the coast of OR. We stopped in McMinnville for a night to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and then we settled into a quaint beach condo literally on the coast. After the hustle and bustle and constant idea exchange at the conference, we took a deep breathe and watched the waves and ate some filling food the first day.

The next couple days was spent as a writing retreat. On this retreat, I submitted my first full draft of my dissertation to the college and to Maureen! That felt like a victory for me, especially after the inspiration and ideas I gleaned from the conference. We talked, ate, laughed, and enjoyed our time on the beach, especially in such a beautiful place to stay. We also prepared for next year's conference! We read over the CCCC 2018 proposal, talked about our ideas, and discussed the changes we see and want to see in the conference. I love spending times with these ladies because, even while we don't always agree, our ideas compliment each other's and build on each other's. I came back from OR tired but ready to jump into the completion of this doctoral degree!

Tutoring Time!

As I gear up to defend my dissertation in Tempe in one week (AH!), I am also looking at the next steps for employment for this summer and beyond.

This summer I will be teaching one section of Written Communication at Madison College, and I am excited about that possibility and to be back in a classroom of students.

In addition to that course, I am also planning to rebuild my tutoring business and work with students in my area or online. Please check out my tutoring website to find out more!

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!