by Jennifer Sierra | Oct 31, 2017 | Student Voices
7:30 a.m. I hear a loud noise which I quickly identify as my alarm clock. I wake up at an earlier time than I would have wanted to. The guilt of not having been productive on the previous day gets me out of bed. 10:00 a.m. I finally manage to get myself out of my...
by Austin McCoy | Oct 23, 2017 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Student Voices
I am reminded of my first day of college when I think about Dr. Edward A. Bouchet’s experiences as the first African American person to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S., from Yale University, and the importance of advocacy when thinking about addressing racial disparities in...
by Jallicia Jolly | Oct 13, 2017 | Student Voices
“America will make you and break you my child. Be vigilant, and walk good,” exclaimed my mother during a phone conversation. Immediately, she reminded me how the fault lines of race, gender, ethnicity, and citizenship status have shaped the Jamaican immigrant routes...
by Shana Rochester | Oct 5, 2017 | Student Voices
My pursuit of a Ph.D. is grounded in a desire to study how research-informed school- and community-based programs can foster meaningful literacy learning for young learners. I focus mostly on how to address the needs of children who have been traditionally...
by Juan Udaondo Alegre | Sep 5, 2017 | Student Voices
This account of my experience with the Sweetland Dissertation Writing Groups (DWGs) must start with a public confession: regarding dissertation writing and chapter-producing, the fourth year of my doctoral studies at U-M was not very productive. Of course, I did a lot...
by Deanna Montgomery | Sep 1, 2017 | Student Voices
Dear New Grad Student, Sorry I didn’t catch your name. We met a few months ago at a poster session during an internal symposium. Though my work is significantly outside your field, you showed an unfettered interest in my project. It didn’t surprise me when I asked if...
by Jeff Lowe | Aug 25, 2017 | Student Voices
Two years ago, when I first started writing for the Rackham blog, I wrote a post about beach towns on Lake Michigan. That summer, I got engaged on a Lake Michigan beach. And, last month, I got married on that beach. For the wedding, we rented Camp Blodgett in the...
by Jallicia Jolly | Aug 2, 2017 | Student Voices
Is academia a contributing factor to mental and emotional health problems? How are universities and their institutional cultures contributing to these issues? Is there space to have these discussions? Who will listen? In the past year, I have often had these...
by Deanna Montgomery | Jul 20, 2017 | Student Voices
As a third-year Ph.D. student, having finished all of my required courses and much to the confusion of many of my friends and colleagues, I decided to take an additional class during a semester when I already had little time to spare. While there were times that my...
by Shweta Ramdas | Jul 14, 2017 | Student Voices
I gave a talk about my field of work a couple of months ago, to an audience of people mostly outside it. After the talk, a senior member in the audience came over and asked me a few questions about genetics and health. He had a family history of lung cancer, he said,...
