academia | Friending Meme!

From:

And I'll fill it out...

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Emily/

ajnabieh
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): PhD candidate, still doing fieldwork and writing, but should finish everything but paperwork by December...
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): My degree's in Politics; I focus on Middle Eastern politics and gender politics, separately or in combination, and a whole lot of political and social theory
Research/Teaching Interests: My diss is on the Arab community in NYC and political discourse; I also dabble in doing acafannish research and in straight-up political theory, because I'm crazy. I'm an ethnographer, a discourse analyst, and an interpretivist. I teach whatever I can get (lol), but so far it's been political theory and Middle Eastern politics.
Geographic Location: Brooklyn, baby.
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Some fandom stuff; I have a kid, and that's pretty distracting; I've found that reading novels helps me from going off the deep end lately; I cook a lot.
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: My journal is actually a research blog-type thing on Arab-American politics...some method notes, some fieldnotes, some ranting about politics, etc. Not that much personal stuff.

From:

majoline

That sounds awesome! My personal political studies are (when they are not statistics) mostly American foreign policy at home/Constitutional studies, so it's always cool to see someone else with a different focus.

From:

ajnabieh

Oh, stats. *g* I definitely went three rounds with SPSS just to get my demographics chapter together...

It's funny, because if you'd asked me before I started grad school what my interests were, I would have made very clear that I'm not an Americanist, that I have no interest in American politics except as a (cranky) citizen. And then I somehow ended up with this weird dissertation that people keep thinking of as American politics. NO, NO, I HATE AMERICA....N POLITICS AS A FIELD OF STUDY, I respond.

From:

holyschist

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc:

holyschist
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Master's candidate (very soon to be DONE)
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): I like to be vague because there are only a handful of programs in my field in the US, but it's a professional program that has theoretically prepared me for a non-professorial career in mostly non-university academic institutions, working with science stuff. My concentration has been paleontology.
Research/Teaching Interests: See above about vagueness. Um.
Geographic Location: Colorado
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Read lots and lots of books, especially speculative fiction and really dry scholarly history books; dress up as a 16th century woman on weekends (SCA); crafts (mostly historical); trying to teach myself Middle Mongolian; photography, particularly plants and critters; playing with my cats; cooking; watching lots of British TV.
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: I actually don't write much about academia at the moment, aside from access-locked complaints about my program. I've had a fairly bad grad school experience that's really soured me on a lot of things, and at this point I just want to focus on getting a decently-paid tolerable job and digging myself out of debt. Then maybe my idealism will recover and I will focus more getting on a job that's actually relevant to my training. I dunno. I do periodically write geeky posts about medieval Mongolian history and language, but I have zero formal training in history or linguistics, so I dunno how real historians and linguists would feel about them.

From:

ajnabieh

I'm really sorry your grad program didn't work out; it always makes me sad to hear that sort of thing. :(

SCIENCE TEACHING OMG. I worked at the Franklin Institute one summer in high school, and it was the best thing ever. I really hope it's going to work out for you!

From:

holyschist

Eh, well. Hopefully it will improve my employability--the program does have a good employment record--and my advisor and work experience have been great. It was awfully expensive work experience, though, especially since most of my classes were useless.

I am definitely not going into teaching, aieee! Not formal teaching, anyway.

I may make an overdue Ada Lovelace Day post about my science/tech background/job after I have my diploma in hand.

From:

majoline

Ada Lovelace Day post (however belated) sounds pretty nifty.

From:

holyschist

There was a cool quasi-meme going around last week for women in STEM to represent, and I liked reading other people's posts. I thought about doing one, but I'm still a bit cagey until I have that diploma because given my location, it would be very easy to figure my program. My program which is toxic. (The kind of toxic where current and former employees cryptically complain about it on Facebook! It's great! /sarcasm)

I was also thinking about a nice Ada Lovelace Day post about some of my favorite women scientists, but I didn't get to that either. Maybe next year.

From:

majoline

Don't worry I know how that feels! *hugs* And in MS which is too small of a state to have any way out either. *sigh*

From:

egret

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Egret
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Assistant Professor
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): English @ a community college
Research/Teaching Interests: American literature, pop culture, environmentalism
Geographic Location: NYC
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): obsess over Freddie Mercury
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: So glad to see this comm!

From:

ajnabieh

Hey, there, neighbor! :)

From:

yvi

User name: Yvi
What You Do: I just finished my Master's (like, three days ago!) and will hopefully start a PhD this summer. Until then I am a research assistant, turning my Master's thesis into a publication.
Specialization: Bioinformatics *looks around nervously*
Research/Teaching Interests: Evolution, modeling, all kinds of stuff related to Biology, but not done in the lab :)
Geographic Location: Western Germany
Other Stuff You Do: Coding for Dreamwidth, TV 8current obsession: The West Wing), some fandom stuff
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: nope

Edited Date: 2010-04-02 10:26 pm (UTC)

From:

majoline

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: I'm Margaret
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): currently stalled student
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): Political Science (constitutional law) but I'm looking into religious studies
Research/Teaching Interests: Indo-European studies; politics
Geographic Location: Mississippi
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): currently nothing really :(
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: I have had the worst time ever in college. It's been two years of trying to regain my health from the stress and it's honestly cheaper to be unemployed right now. I just want to get my life back enough to finish the dern BA and do an online masters. blah

From:

holyschist

Oh, man, I hear you on unemployment being cheaper. I took an extra year in grad school due to having fairly serious mental health problems I was dealing with on top of a very close death in the family and the fact that I hated my program violently and was working and...

...unemployment would have been SO MUCH cheaper and MUCH less stressful, plus I probably could have held down a normal job or temped or something. School can be really awful for the mental and physical health, and that just makes it harder to finish.

Good luck with getting things back onto the track you want!

From:

majoline

I did all the math and figured out to keep going even with the wonderful grant I got would leave me no gas or textbook money. And with everything else, I just said it wasn't worth it.

But thank you for the good luck! *hugs* You need it too, hon :D

From:

holyschist

That really sucks. Education funding has really tanked even more the last few years.

From:

zhelana

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Katy
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): grad student
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): Latin American history, specifically Argentina, and more specifically Peronism.
Research/Teaching Interests: Latin America, education, memory
Geographic Location: California
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): I'm in the SCA where I fight, and I blues dance.
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add:

From:

jana

Name: Jana
What You Do: PhD student who's writing like crazy on her dissertation at the moment. Hopefully I can submit a first complete draft by the end of May...
Specialization: I have a background in cognitive science, hold a Licentiate degree (quite 'popular' in Sweden) in cognitive systems
Research/Teaching Interests: Computer game play, embodied and situated cognition, ecological psychology, participatory culture, human-computer interaction
Geographic Location: Sweden (in the middle between the two big lakes in Sweden - Vänern & Vättern)
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): web design, css, GIMP, LaTeX. I also like my bike, music, ... Anyway, the interests listed on my profile page should give you some idea :)

From:

somnolentblue

Good luck writing! I'm supposed to have a complete draft by about mid-June, so I'm there with you in the frantic writing mode.

From:

jana

Thanks, and good luck to you too! I wished my writing was faster, but I'm getting there... :)

From:

oursin

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc:

oursin
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Archivist in research library + independent scholar
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): Archives. History - UK, strong focus on gender and sexuality, history of medicine/psychiatry - mostly 'modern' (i.e. since 1800 or so)
Research/Teaching Interests: see above
Geographic Location: London UK (tired of=tired of life)
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Check out the interests on my profile page
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: Not really a hedgehog.

From:

zulu

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc:

zulu, but you can call me zulu!
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Master's student, finishing up coursework and about to dive in to the diss.
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): The Best Field Evar, aka Science Fiction Studies
Research/Teaching Interests: Gender & queer studies. I'd love to teach English.
Geographic Location: England
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Read, be a tourist (it's my year abroad), write fiction (fan and original).
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: I'm hoping to apply for PhD programs in culture studies, English, and/or something interdisciplinary, and start that in the fall of 2011.

From:

teej

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: teej
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): i'm a phd student (part time, second year)
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): gender studies, feminist theory, feminist history...
Research/Teaching Interests: i am researching the role that historical narratives of feminism play in contemporary feminist discourses in britain, in particular as this relates to race and racism within feminism.
Geographic Location: london, uk
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): i work on a mental health anti-discrimination project (and therefore feel obliged to mention that i'm not so sure about your choice of word 'crazy' in this context ;)), lately i've not been doing much else than working and studying but when i have more energy i hope to get back involved with feminist/anti-racist activist stuff, plus i need to start reading some fiction again because i really miss it!
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: i'm quite new to dw so looking for friends! it would be particularly great to make connections with people with similar academic interests...

From:

somnolentblue

Name:

somnolentblue
What You Do: graduate student, finishing dissertation with an August defense. After that I'm jumping into a new program so that I can work in manuscripts and archives.
Specialization: history
Research/Teaching Interests: 17th century English history, specifically gender and politics with a side of history of the book
Geographic Location: Northeastern US
Other Stuff You Do: volunteer at a local animal shelter, bake, and spend a lot of time watching tv of dubious quality
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: my journal's pretty fannish (Supernatural, mostly, although I have a habit of writing random stuff about whatever media I'm consuming at the moment) with a splattering of links. However, Awesome Advisors recently set some deadlines for me (at my instigation), so there's more about that process as of late. (Amazingly when I'm not procrastinating I'm contemplating my work, and, by extension, my work becomes something I talk about.)

Edited Date: 2010-04-03 05:54 pm (UTC)

From:

zhelana

hi! I know it's not quite the same but I work on the history of textbooks in education. Friends?

From:

somnolentblue

Greetings! As long as you're okay with a rather random mixture of linkage, fannishness, and omg!dissertation.

From:

manifesta

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Kayla /

manifesta
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Undergrad, psychology major/women's studies minor, graduating winter 2011.
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): Social psychology; in particular, social cognitive theory with a feminist bent.
Research/Teaching Interests: *flails* I'm still trying to figure this one out. Currently I'm engaged in research on stereotype threat and confrontation bias (following the basic premise that if stereotype threat reduces performance, then a confrontation that contradicts a stereotypical statement will reduce the amount of threat and increase performance) but it's not where my true interests lie. As much as I like empirical research, I like applying that research to theory more than actually conducting it. Which presents an unfortunate dilemma, because I've yet to find a grad school that encourages this type of rebel thinking.
Geographic Location: Bellingham, WA (1.5 hours north of Seattle on the Canadian border).
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Salsa/ballroom, drink massive amounts of coffee, read and analyze genre books (fantasy/romance/YA).
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: I don't discuss my actual research too much outside vague references. Mostly I write about books and the publishing industry using feminist and/or very basic social psychological theory.

From:

greenet

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Sascha /

greenet
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Bachelor student in my final semester
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): English literature (with technology history, gender studies and media electives)
Research/Teaching Interests: Gender and narrative
Geographic Location: Norway
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Watch a whole lot of crime shows (British, American, German and Swedish), read, dream about travelling
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: May take an extra semester to improve some grades (the English programme at my uni is tiny and I was forced to take linguistics. I am bad at linguistics) before applying to Master's programmes.

From:

sofiaviolet

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Sofia /

sofiaviolet

What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Archives! I am an undergrad, and I've been working in my university's Archives and Special Collections department for two years as a student worker, full-time work experience/co-op employee, and volunteer. I plan to accumulate degrees, training, XP, and so forth, as needed, to make a permanent career out of this.

Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): History, with a general tendency to emphasize marginalized groups.

Research/Teaching Interests: Gender, colonialism. I have some preliminary research on free women of color in 19th century New Orleans that I want to expand to fulfill my final degree requirement, and I'm going on a combined research/parent-visiting trip this summer.

Geographic Location: Boston

Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Fangirl Dreamwidth. Hang out with queers and kinksters and burlesque performers. Engage in worldbuilding shenanigans. Write.

Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: A lot of my posts about life in the archives are locked, but I grant access to anyone who adds me to their circle. My journal is mostly personal stuff.

From:

siria

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Siria
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Grad student. Post-Master's, working on my PhD
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): Medieval history
Research/Teaching Interests: I wander around between gender/women's/religious history. I work a lot with nuns and saints, though recently I've been working quite a bit on the body.
Geographic Location: I'm an expat European currently living in the USA.
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): Watch ridiculous TV shows, drink a lot of tea, write fic based on ridiculous TV shows.
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add:

From:

sibyllevance

Name: Sibylle
What You Do: Graduate student (last year - should I say month - of my Master's degree).
Specialization:British Lit and Film and TV studies. My Master's is in two years, last year my work focused on humour in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion and this year I'm focusing on 5 adaptations of Jane Austen's novels that were broadcast on ITV and on the BBC from 2007 to 2009.
Research/Teaching Interests: I want to teach in high school so I'll probably get kicked out of this community soon enough :p This is my last year of uni, I'll go in teacher training in October.
Geographic Location: Oxford, UK for my last year of academia but come July I'll be in Paris, France and will probably stay there for quite a while since my teacher training course is there.
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): I watch a lot of TV shows and I read a lot of fanfictions. Listening and dancing to music. I love reading. As a general rule, I'll go for witty and fast-paced anything.

Edited Date: 2010-05-02 03:57 pm (UTC)

From:

troisroyaumes

Realized I never filled this out!

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc: Tari/

troisroyaumes
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): Ph.D. candidate (A.B.D.)
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): molecular and cell biology, with specialization in genetics and genomics
Research/Teaching Interests: systems biology, gene regulation, population genomics, evolution, high-throughput sequencing, natural variation
Geographic Location: Berkeley
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): reading fiction, knitting, blogging, Asian dramas
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: Just finished my third year of graduate school. I'm feeling pressured and disillusioned about grad school at the moment because I'm no nearer to publication than I was last year after I passed my quals.

From:

mllesays

Name/Handle/User Name/Etc:

mllesays or mlle
What You Do (i.e., grad student, adjunct, librarian, etc): soon-to-be grad student! It's my last summer of freedom before I start my Masters program.
Specialization (discipline, subfield, whatever level of granularity you want): 20th century American lit
Research/Teaching Interests: Southern lit, gender and queer theory, history of the canon, media/cultural studies.
Geographic Location: I'm moving to Philly for school in August.
Other Stuff You Do (i.e., the stuff that keeps you from going crazy): I'm not there yet! I imagine it'll involve walking my dog and watching a lot of tv.
Anything Else You Feel Compelled To Add: I'll just be watching here until I actually get started on school. Which is not that far away, oh god.