Year: 2013

  • Self-help for PhDs (by PhDs)

    During my undergrad I worked part-time at a Chapters bookstore in Ottawa, a big-box retailer similar to Barnes & Noble. My area of the store was the “Lifestyles” section, assigned to me because that’s where the opening was when I was hired. That section included many of the store’s non-fiction books, including self-help titles. Anyone…

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  • Transition Q & A: Peter Konieczny

    Peter Konieczny earned his MA in history and MLS from the University of Toronto. He is now the librarian at Oxford College and the editor of Medievalists.net and four other history websites. Follow him@medievalicious. When you finished your MA, did you have a plan for what you’d do next? I finished my MA in 1999 and…

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  • Talking about Twitter, learning about myself

    I recently had a couple teleconferences with women entrepreneurs. The topic was Twitter. I offered to talk to them because I had a flash of insight: Twitter has been invaluable to me this year, and these women, who are part of a coaching group I’m in, might not yet know of its awesomeness. I’ve used…

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  • Should

    I lived with many “should”s during my PhD. I should have worked harder in classes, spent more time on my essays, read more books, taken better notes, tried harder to set up reading groups, done more research, visited more archives, ordered more photocopies, applied for more conferences, networked more actively, worked more consistently on my…

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  • Update

    I’ve been busy with different projects these past few weeks, and am now taking advantage of having little on my plate! Here’s a bit of what I’ve been up to: I participated in a panel and discussion about #alt-ac at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. The whole thing was streamed live over the ‘net…

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  • Transition Q & A: Mélanie Brunet

    Mélanie Brunet earned her PhD in history and then her Master of Information from the University of Toronto. She’s now the librarian at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa. Follow her @MelanieBrunet. Update, June 2016: Melanie is now Copyright Services Librarian at the University of Ottawa. What did you hope for in terms of employment…

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  • Transition Q & A: Sam Ladner

    Sam Ladner is a senior researcher at Microsoft, researching the future of productivity. She holds a PhD in sociology and has studied work, technology, and organizations in both academic and applied settings. Find her online at SamLadner.com and follow at @sladner. What did you hope for in terms of employment as you completed your PhD? I had…

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  • Transition Q & A: Pamela MacIsaac

    UPDATE, Nov 2014: Pam MacIsaac now works as an academic coach and tutor with Think Academic Enrichment & Support. Pamela MacIsaac earned her PhD in history from McMaster University in 1997. She later completed a Master of Teaching at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto in 2008 and is…

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  • Staying in touch

    One of the topics that came up on today’s #femlead Twitter chat was what to do after an informational interview. Amanda Page wondered what comes next. Well, after a thank you email, there isn’t necessarily a next, at least not in my experience. Sometimes, an informational interview serves its purpose and both parties know nothing…

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  • #Femlead chat on informational interviews

    I’m leading the #Femlead chat on Twitter this coming Tuesday, 16 April, between 2 and 2:30pm EDT (GMT-4). Please join me! From the University of Venus description: #femlead is for those who lead, those with vision, those who seek to support one another in the challenges and opportunities facing us in all areas of academic…

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