Alumni Profiles Series: Marianne Eileen Wardle
Tell us about yourself:
Name: Marianne Eileen Wardle
Title: Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programs, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
City: Durham, NC
PhD, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University, 2010
MA, Brigham Young University, Art History, 1997
BA, French and Art History, Utah State University, 1992
Slowing it down at the Emerging Leaders Institute
When I first came to Duke last fall, my incoming master’s class bonded by comparing Myers-Briggs personality types: not the real ones, of course, but instead the ones that match your personality type to a Harry Potter character or a varietal of wine. Last week at the Emerging Leaders Institute, I learned that was child’s play when we received our Human Patterns Reports. (more…)
Self-assessments are not just about you
Earlier this month, I attended the “Enhancing Your Leadership by Understanding Your Personality Type” workshop offered as part of the Graduate School’s Professional Development Series. During the workshop, career consultant Shelly Hoover-Plonk discussed the characteristics of the sixteen Myers-Briggs Types and the implications of these personality preferences in the workplace. Career counselors, schools, and employers have been using the Myers-Briggs assessment for decades, so you may already know your type and what this identifier says about you. But what does your type mean for those around you?
The CCT and why I chose Duke
As a second year in the Ph.D. program in the Duke Department of Statistical Science, meeting prospective Ph.D. students is one of the enjoyable events of the Spring semester. Each week, faced with the quintessential question “why did you choose Duke?”, I emphasize the ability to personalize the program to individual research interests and career goals. (more…)
Alumni profiles series: Jeremy Allen Smith
Tell us about yourself:
Jeremy Allen Smith. PhD, Musicology, 2008
MA, Theology and the Arts, Regent University, 2003
BMus, Music Theory and Composition, University of South Carolina Honors College, 2000
Current city: Oberlin, OH
Current Job: Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the James and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection, Oberlin College Conservatory Library
What professional or career plans did you have in mind as you were completing your graduate degree?
I went to graduate school because I wanted to be involved in knowledge production and dissemination. Beyond that I didn’t have a specific career plan. I basically came to Duke trying to be as open as I could to different career options. Part of that was because of the diversity of interests I had. Another part of it was pragmatic. I was at Duke from ’03 to the end of ’08, and during that time I saw a lot of smart and talented people completing their degrees but not getting jobs. I was determined that was not going to be me. (more…)
The importance of being diverse
Research is driven by inquiry, so I pause to ask, “What kind of graduate school would my graduate school be, if everyone in the graduate school were just like me?” If we throw aside the false notions that we are ideal, perfect individuals, then this question raises serious implications. My own reflection on a response to this question yields a very poignant reality that a graduate school full of “me” would be boring, unfruitful, and unproductive. We would all be political scientists. There would be no interest in microbiology, genetics, art history, or sociology for that matter. Furthermore, we would all ask the same questions and we would only be interested in the subfield of comparative politics within political science. A group of “me” would be a sad reality for contributions to and advancements in the humanities, medicine, and technology, for example. (more…)
Starting to teach online
There was an interesting post recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s blog ProfHacker. This post, Adventures in Synchronous Online Teaching, details one faculty member’s first foray into developing and teaching an all online seminar, including some of the initial quirks and struggles she faced. You may find this a reassuring read if you are also looking at making the leap to teaching an online or hybrid course and find this a daunting prospect. By the way, if you are looking at a faculty career path and are not reading ProfHacker already, you really should be.
If you happen to be here at Duke and are interested in online teaching, you might find the Bass Online Apprenticeship a great opportunity to get started.
The power of first person
Perhaps you caught the piece “The Magic Word” by Duke’s own David Jarmul on Inside Higher Ed this week. Contrary to what your mother may have told you, Mr. Jarmul asserts that the magic word for academics is the first-person pronoun I. Leveraging the power of personal experience, combined with disciplinary expertise, is, he argues, a compelling formula for engaging the public in op-ed articles.
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Maybe you don’t need a career plan
Yes, you read that correctly. Even if the career roadmap you’ve been busy drawing looks like a straight line to your dream job, you should probably think about scrapping it. (more…)
Reflections of an undeveloped careerist
Professional development isn’t why I came to Duke. I came here to be formed as a scholar, a researcher; to become a better writer, which also means to become a better reader, which means that my eyeglasses prescription strength is proportional to the federal debt.
The questions soon follow, though. “When are you going to get a real job?” I can ameliorate the interrogation by explaining that I’m living fine, that I’m getting paid to do something I absolutely love, that I have health insurance and that I’ve been putting money away for the future. Of course, the “life of the mind” doesn’t seem so appealing to those outside my mind. (more…)
