Author: Jennifer Polk
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Heather Steel, Researcher, Transition Q&A
About Heather Steel Heather Steel earned her MA in history from the University of New Brunswick and spent six years in the PhD program in history at York University. She is now a researcher in the non-profit sector. You left your history PhD program before finishing. Why? In the end, my dissertation and I were
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Stress and illness
Back in the summer I had a flare up of eczema . I’ve had persistent little dry spots appear before on my skin, primarily on my hands but also on my feet and arms. This time, it was different. By the fall, the dry patch was still there and growing ever larger. It had spread
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Brad King, Vice President, Transition Q&A
Brad King earned his PhD in history from the University of Toronto. He is a vice president at Lord Cultural Resources, an international museum and cultural planning firm. A tenure-track job at a research institution is often seen as the supposed goal of a post-PhD job search. What was your experience? What did you hope for
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Investing in myself
We all know the saying, “You have to spend money to make money,” but actually doing it can be uncomfortable. It was thus a big decision for me to hire a career coach and quit a part-time job within the span of a week back in October. Doing so meant earning less and spending more,
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Quick trip
It was a long weekend here in Ontario, so when Bernard offered me a ride to Ottawa, I jumped at the chance. (Ottawa’s my hometown, and my parents still live there.) The only caveat was that Bernard wanted me to take a few pictures of him posing in front of a few landmarks. We left
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Jamie Pratt, Research Officer, Transition Q&A
Jamie Pratt received his PhD in philosophy from York University, specializing in ethics. He is now the research officer in York’s Faculty of Fine Arts. A tenure-track job at a research institution is often seen as the goal of a post-PhD job search. What was your experience? What did you hope for in terms of
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Changes ahead
I’ll be playing around with different themes, layouts, and header images over the next few days. Don’t mind the mess and here’s hoping for positive changes!
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Patience in the neutral zone
Early this month was the one-year anniversary of my dissertation defence: 3 February 2012. Thinking about how much time has passed since then can get me down. I’m still not settled into a job or even on a career! Although I’m generally feeling optimistic and am fairly certain good things will come my way, it
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Alexandra Guerson, Part-Time Faculty, Transition Q & A
About Alexandra Guerson Alexandra Guerson earned her PhD in history from the University of Toronto. She’s currently a part-time faculty member at New College, University of Toronto, and occasionally takes up sessional work at U of T’s history department and at York University. Find her online and follow her @AEGuerson. A tenure-track job at a research
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Manifesto
There’s a big, and growing, problem with academic labour and the job market. What makes it worse is that there hasn’t been an attendant shift in attitudes within the academy about the purpose of a PhD. Although I’m most familiar with the situation in history and the troubles faced by the humanities in general, a