Discover Rackham

I was left red-faced one afternoon last semester. It was after an office-hour session in which a student had pointed out some mistakes I had made while grading his assignment, making no effort to hide what he thought of me. As a first-time GSI, such moments presented...

When the semester gets to a point where I find myself unable to face my books any longer, I shut down my laptop (along with the 20 or so unread tabs on my browser) and stroll over to one of my favourite places in Ann Arbor--the Dawn Treader Book Shop. Housed between a...

Hello my name is Chris Valdez. I am a 4th year Neuroscience Ph.D. candidate here at the University of Michigan. My hometown is San Antonio, Texas and I am very happy to have moved up here to be part of this excellent university. At first the move was difficult for my...

The undergraduate student I mentored for the last 1.5 years just graduated this past spring and is going on to begin graduate school this fall. He asked me what are some tips for things he should know before entering graduate school…probably not realizing exactly how...

For those of us who grew up in the American public school system, it is hard to forget those blissful days when the ring of the final bell on the final day of school meant three months of blissful summer freedom. Yes, many of us still had “work” to do over the summer:...

I’m beginning to realise that Ann Arbor celebrates its summers with a vengeance. It’s as if a battle has been waged with the winter and we have emerged victorious. And as much as I wish that I didn’t have to deal with the never-ending winter, it makes me so much more...

Growing up in a bustling city with a population of 25 million is quite enough to make you hesitate about moving to a quaintly named city called Ann Arbor. I'm glad I shoved the hesitation aside and made my way here, 4 suitcases and all! I was born in Bombay (now...

As a Ph.D. Candidate in History, I'm working on the intersections between the history of American antislavery and the history of families. My dissertation traces the journey of African American families as they migrated from North America to West Africa during...

Every few weeks or so, someone writes another article about how humanities Ph.D. programs are a bad choice and how grad students are either victims who have been bamboozled into a dead-end career in a dying field or are the children of privilege or—my personal...

Because your job CAN be fun! Excited to be part of a wonderful team! 5:42 am “Wake up, mama! Mama, wake up! Wake up! Wake UP!” I hide my head in the comforter as I try to convince Aida, my two-year-old daughter, that we still have 18 minutes of sleep left. After...