Week 1: Research Interests

Hello Everyone! I have never done a blog before but am certainly interesting in learning about everyone's research interests. I might be a less traditional doc student, in that I have worked both in Higher Education and in the private sector for an education company. This experience has definitely impacted my work in class the first year, and often I challenge the beliefs and attitudes of those in higher education. My research interests remain too large to accomplish during my time at UGA, and it is so very frustrating to try and parse them down to a reasonable size. I don't even know where to begin to identify singular experiences that drive my research interests. Given that they are all about college students, it is a broad field. That being said, I will try to narrow down some thoughts for this class.

Probably the single most salient experience for me was attending a small women's college for my undergraduate education.I had no expectations for what that experience would entail, but as it turned out it was critical to my development as an adult. The environment was incredibly supportive, my adviser was the Dean of the College, and I had many great relationships with faculty and staff. I learned to be independent, to be a critical thinker, and a decent writer. At a small school you get to know everyone on campus, and to provide leadership in multiple ways. I was an R.A, served in SGA, worked on research, and participated in a unique sister class relationship.The 4 years there provided the foundation I needed to go to graduate school and to pursue a career in Student Affairs.

Today, much of my interest lies in the role of the Dean of Student/VP of Student Affairs at small institutions, as well as the study of women students, and women's centers. I am also interested in the Millennial generation, who are a full generation distant from me as a member of GenX. I have most recently been working on the current state of women's centers and the roles and functions of these center's on campus. However, I am not sure this is my ultimate direction, I feel like I want to dig deeper into the role of the DOS at small schools.

In addition, I want to acknowledge that I am new to qualitative research. When I did my master's this research was in it's infancy in Higher Education (as opposed to an area like Sociology). I have always done quantitative work, so I am excited to learn more about the different types of qualitative research.

Thank you!