Author: Jennifer Polk
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Coach training
I started coach training last week. I’m doing the Foundations course from Mentor Coach, a training program aimed at “helping professionals” and rooted in positive psychology. I first heard of Mentor Coach from Karen Shue, whom I met with for coffee one morning a few months back. She only had good things to say about…
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Brenda Bethman, Center Director, Transition Q&A
Brenda Bethman earned her PhD in modern German studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2009. She’s now the director of the Women’s Center and the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she is also affiliated faculty in German in the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures. Find her online…
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Tina Seelig’s post-PhD transition
I came across this recently: Soon after earning my PhD in neuroscience, my sights were set on working in a startup biotechnology company. The only problem? I wanted a job in marketing and strategy, not in the lab. This seemed nearly impossible without any relevant experience. The startup companies with whom I interviewed were looking…
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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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Peter Konieczny, Website Editor, Transition Q&A
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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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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Mélanie Brunet, Librarian, Transition Q&A
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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Sam Ladner, Senior Researcher, Transition Q&A
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…