The Unlikely Academic Podcast, The Real Graduate School Experience!

In this episode of the Unlikely Academics, Drs. Silver and Holcombe, sans Tommy, interview Dr. Jessica Logan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Studies (https://www.jarlogan.com/). Dr. Logan focuses on research methodology as well as evaluation and measurement. Drs. Silver and Holcombe worked with Dr. Logan at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga while all three were completing their masters program at roughly the same time. Dr. Logan received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Florida State University in 2009. She is a co-host of the Podcast Within and Between Podcast, which deals with methodology in development science at withinandbetweenpod.com We discuss wide-ranging topics from Science, issues of diversity, being an unlikely academic, and Dr. Logan’s experience and narrative of how she shifted from an interest in music (she is an alumnus of Sigma Alpha Iota from Middle Tennessee State University) to linguistics and developmental psychology. This is a bit of a more extended interview; however, given the richness of Jessica’s story, we only edited out sound errors to keep the entirety of Jessica’s message.

In this episode, the Unlikely Academics led by Tommy Colman discuss finding resources for writing and crafting a research paper. While focused on scientific writing, many of the tools and procedures discussed explore resources for finding literature to support writing using both conventional and non-conventional resources. We talk about using informational sources such as websites of labs, professors, and schools. We also suggest using resources such as Research Gate as well as Academia.edu. We also talk about finding peer reviewed research. We also talk about Google Scholar for past and current literature on a topic. We also talk about identifying highly cited literature and those informing current academic understanding in writing your work. We also discuss the divergence between particular writing styles (APA, MLA, Chicago) and institutional writing rules for formatting and syntax.

In this episode of the Unlikely Academics, we discuss pay, adjunct roles, and supplementing the income of graduate students and new faculty. We discuss the adjunct role pre and post COVID-19 and what the market will look like for the fall. We address the funding challenges of institutions of higher learning. We discuss how layoffs and furloughs are affecting institutions and the doubling and, in some cases, tripling of responsibilities of faculty and staff in highly procedural processes placed on us during COVID. We talk about how colleges and universities have shifted to a business model with services and entertainment for students. We discuss how higher education has flexed to address the new challenges, including sports, programming, student support services, etc. We offer some suggestions for listeners to consider as they consider taking adjunct or faculty roles to be aware of the job market in these times.

In this episode, Drs Holcombe and Silver discuss the current status of Colleges and Universities and Planning for the Fall 2020 Semester. We discuss the challenges of planning for the upcoming semester during the COVID-19 crisis and the types of questions you should be asking as an incoming or current graduate school. We discuss how various universities are planning for research and coursework, including how the funding models are changing, including Graduate and Research Assistantships and asking the hard questions about funding, course requirements, and research lab requirements. We discuss school closures, funding limitations, and shifting face to face coursework to online. Further, the co-hosts suggest asking questions and being clear regarding expectations of one’s program and faculty when things are unclear during the pandemic.

As part of Listener Feedback Episode, Drs. Holcombe and Silver interview Michael Apostol a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of San Diego. Like many of our listeners, Michael reached out requesting an episode on alternative research topics beyond the mainstream. We address many of Michael’s questions about interests in alternative topics such as religiosity, decision-making, reasoning, and judgments. We also discuss more mainstream topics as well, such as moral psychology and neuropsychology. Michael shares his interest in a research lab to continue learning about methods and statistics. Further, he plans on applying to social or cognitive psychology Ph.D. programs in the next few years. We discuss some things to consider in Michael’s journey, including joining organizations, attending conferences, and working in additional labs for the experience. We also shared that Michael’s website is an excellent example of an online vita. https://www.michaelapostol.com/

In part two of a two-part interview, Doctoral Candidate Alex Uzdavines from Case Western University discusses how his own life trauma has helped informed his experience in graduate school and clinical psychology in assisting others in coping with anxiety and trauma without biasing clinical practice. We explore Alex’s goals and career trajectory, as well as methods for addressing one’s own stress in stressful times. The cohosts also discuss how these experiences define us as graduate students, early-career professionals, and people. For those interested in constructive methods for dealing with negative life-altering events, these episodes are a great example of how we all can achieve our dreams regardless of our history and life stressors, which may bring us down. Alex addresses listener questions based on part one of the interview.

In this episode of the Unlikely Academics Podcast, the Cohosts Tommy, Jenny, and Chris interview doctoral candidate Alex Uzdavines from Case Western University. In this interview, Alex shares his life experience dealing with the loss of his father to suicide in his youth and again his mother to suicide at the age of 19. Yet, Alex has overcome these challenges and continued his education, focusing on a wide area of scholarly topics landing in clinical psychology. Alex reflects on his experiences and how he coped with loss in finding his scholarly track leading to his career aspirations. This is an interesting and honest discussion of adversity as one grows in life and academia.

In this episode, we continue our coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the influence the virus will have on higher education. In this episode, we discuss one of the controversial topics pertinent to all in higher education, which is the shift from on-premise to online education. Faculty, both young and old, have preconceptions of the structure, course format, and base learning as examples. For some, proper learning occurs in a lecture-based face to face format in a classroom, on-site at a university. While other faculty prefer various formats of instruction, including field experience, YouTube videos, podcasts (hint hint), Zoom meetings, and online exercises and assignments, for those who prefer more traditional approaches to education and pedagogy, the COVID-19 crisis has forced them into a paradigm they have little to no experience. Moreover, if the faculty member held strong attitudes against online learning or instruction, they are now required to adopt the very thing they see as detrimental in learning. While online learning has long been accepted as a medium for teaching, some faculty see this shift away from the traditional values of learning. Some faculty see online learning as the end of tenure, larger departments, research and experiential learning, and ultimately the revered position of being a professor. They fear courses will become curricular course mills. For some, they may respond with a higher structure or rigid assignments and assessments, while others may disconnect entirely or lightly engaging the class for the remainder of this semester. For the future, however, COVID is not likely to go away for the foreseeable future, and therefore, these faculty will have to adapt and adopt an approach they disagree with or fear. We discuss how these rapid adoptions by higher education could influence the future. We also discuss how COVID may cost some faculty their salaries due to drops in enrollment and revenue, as well as some schools even closing entirely due to financial hit caused by the virus. Maybe have a couple of beers before listening to this episode. It is about to get deep, REAL Deep.

This episode of the Unlikely Academics, we discuss the current data trends regarding COVID-19 to support the facts, not fear campaign. We discuss the current correlational trends currently emerging in international research on COVID-19. The co-hosts also share their own experience regarding COVID and how some people are or are not taking social distancing seriously. We also discussed how students have responded to the situation and for current and future graduate students need to monitor their funding sources. This is a good episode if you are interested not only in data trends at the time of the recording but ways we are personally coping during this time. We also want to shout out to our co-host Tommy (absent on this episode), who is preparing for his thesis defense.

We are back. The unlikely academics discuss the current situation in the world related to COVID-19 and the challenges faced by students, professors, and educators in coping with shifting to online learning from either hybrid or face to face instruction. In this episode, the cohosts discuss the new world of remote teaching and how each cohost has addressed these stressful times in higher education. Tommy shares his story of rushing back to the United Kingdom from visiting his family in the United States and the interesting challenges of travel during this time. They also discussed how each of their families has been coping as a result of this situation. The episode wraps up by suggesting a change in theme for the next couple of weeks while we all adapt to the new normal in the post-pandemic world we are in.

In this Episode of the Podcast, Chris and Jenny re-interview Carisha who appeared on the podcast over a year ago. Carisha is in her senior year of undergraduate and is a non-traditional student. She discusses selecting programs and determining which are the best fit for her interests. She discusses the experience of the masters interview in graduate school and samples of the types of questions she was asked in this process. She addresses her concerns with applicant privilege in applying for graduate school and how this translates into graduate interviews. Carisha shares her wisdom on how adversity should be considered victories, not stories of loss or anxiety. Carisha shared the types of programs she applied to and the hopes of admission to her top programs. She reflects on her experiences and learning both in and out of the classroom and how those experiences influence her application to grad school. Following the recording of this podcast, Carisha received an acceptance letter to her top choice for graduate programs. Join us in congratulating Carisha on a job well done.

Mistakes happen, poor choices make them worse. In this episode of the Unlikely Academics Podcast, we discuss some of our wild experiences in graduate school and early career. We discuss some of the funny stories related to our educational experiences, including crazy mistakes we made in our younger years. We discuss some of the weird idiosyncrasies of each of the co-hosts and how our personalities have led to good and poor life choices. We include stories of overcoming challenges in a program such as a program ending prematurely. This is one of the lighter episodes with stories of our journey and the mistakes made by the co-hosts as well as our advisors or programs. If you need a good laugh, this is the episode for you. Note there is significantly more swearing than in other episodes, and therefore listening to this episode may not be safe for work.

This is the long-awaited and one of the most requested topics by listeners. In this episode of the Unlikely Academics, Drs. Holcombe and Silver (sans Tommy Coleman) interview Ms. Tricia Henderson, the Assistant Director of Alcohol, Drug, & Mental Health Education in the Office of the Dean of Students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ms. Henderson discusses common illicit substance abuse in higher education. In this interview, we discuss some of the most common substance abuse complaints at UTC and how students typically respond to interventions and the trouble with measuring success. Ms. Henderson discusses how even a small change in potentially self-destructive behavior can have a huge impact on student success and graduation. She discusses the self-reflection exercise used in her practice to help students evaluate their decision-making process and look for ways to improve student performance outcomes. Tricia also discusses some of the methods of empowering students to seek help for themselves or others without fear of reprisal. She talks about some of the common patterns in substance use on campus, where students were surprised by the outcome of mixing substances and resulted in detrimental consequences. While this is an unusually long episode, there is great information from the student, administrative, or faculty perspective including faculty modeling the wrong behavior and methods for us all change the culture of higher education. For more information regarding Tricia's work go to: https://www.utc.edu/center-student-wellbeing/alcohol-drug-education/profiles/rgb151.php

Tommy Coleman and Chris Silver interview undergraduate double major Jessica Gregg. Jessica is a Psychology as well as Criminal Justice and is one of the initial undergraduate research grant awardees of UTC’s URACE grant. In this episode, Jessica discusses her journey to higher education coming from a working-class family as a non-traditional student. Jessica discusses her laser focus on going to college and eventually graduate school. She discusses the challenges of having no one in her family to help guide her through the college process. Jessica discusses having to navigate her undergraduate years while also caring for her sister and family. She discusses applying to graduate school and how she capitalized on her double major to increase her chances of admission. She discusses some of the lessons learned by applying for graduate school. She discusses the challenges of expectation management with her family, finding funding while working, and the struggles of not being the typical prototype undergraduate and the toll it has on stress and achieving one’s goals. Jessica concludes by sharing lessons learned that could help others in their journey. Finally, the cohosts give a shoutout to a past undergraduate guest Hannah who has started to receive invitations to interview for doctoral programs. Congrats.

In this episode, the co-hosts wrap up their discussion on dating and reflect on the previous episodes and then shift to dating and social media while in academia. They discuss causal relationships, using online dating apps, and living a public life through social media and the implications of oversharing. We discuss how social media can be both good and bad in terms of sharing one’s life keeping friends and family posted on life events such as dating. Where problems emerge is when people go through bad breakups or the public sharing of personal information. For example, if dating, you may be a private person but a current or former partner may openly share details of your romantic and social life. While they may mean no ill will in sharing, it still can have detrimental professional consequences. The co-hosts discuss how private text messages could find themselves in the public domain including images. Therefore, the co-hosts suggest keeping the intimate moments to face to face exchanges and avoiding exchanging pictures or suggestive text or private messages on social media and texting. Even after a bad breakup from years ago, such content could become available to others who wish to hurt you. Therefore, as tempting as it may seem, the cohosts suggest avoiding sharing public information even over text.