For those of you who are new graduate students, we offer this collection of articles gathered from the Emerging Scholars Network to help you thrive in this new endeavor. But no matter where you are in your program, we hope these articles will encourage you in your calling to teaching and scholarship.
by Monica Greenwood
"But oh, New Graduate Student, don’t give up. I wish I could look you in the eyes so you could see the exhaustion that still hasn’t left my face even though we’ve just had months out of school. I’m always tired. But I am no longer unhappy. I am no longer burdened by my crazy degree or the expectations of my faculty or my colleagues. I have won the fight with the expectations and the feelings of poverty and restlessness that seemed destined to crush me. Jesus did it all."
by Hannah Eagleson, PhD in English
“…this series of blog posts…tries to summarize things I wish I’d known at the beginning of graduate school, or in some cases things I did know but didn’t implement very well.”
The Scholar’s Compass is a wonderful series of devotionals launched by ESN written by and for academics. Some of these devotionals are particularly relevant to graduate students:
By Bethany Bowen
Rather than abstracting what we might imagine a Christian graduate student to look like, we must depend on God to use our unique gifts to produce thorugh us a unique expression of God’s goodness and glory.
By David Williams
The piece is the first of a series on the spirituality of graduate school.
By Claudette Ligons
The first in a series by Dr. Claudette Ligons on strength for the journey of the academic life, given at the Black Scholars and Professionals (BSAP) conference this spring. Lots of good advice relevant to any career stage, but great for grad students starting out.
By Lauri Swann
“At this very moment, you may find yourself at a place where you think you have heard God ask you to walk into the unknown. But because the request seems beyond your capabilities, you vacillate between thinking and going. You begin to question the validity of God’s call for you…"
by Beth Madison
"That got me to thinking—what if I had it to do again? Would I change anything or not? And if so, why? I realized there were some very important things I would’ve changed about my time in graduate school and as a young professor..."
by Bob Trube
“How does one live well as a Christian graduate student? Bob Trube, GFM campus staff, has stewed over that question with members of the InterVarsity grad fellowship at Ohio State. Here are their recommendations of seven habits that should be incorporated into the life of every Christian grad student.”
by Nicholas Wolterstorff
“What advice can I give to you whose sights are set on becoming Christian scholars? My first piece of advice is that you get clear on what you understand by the project of being a Christian scholar.”
by a longtime ESN member
A recent PhD shares lessons he has learned from his grad school years, as a Christian and an academic. "By God’s help, I have recently finished my PhD and am now transitioning into a faculty position...While many of the points will already be familiar to most of you, I hope that you can derive some helpful benefit or reminder from them."
Inhabiting Transitional Time Well
by Kateri Collins
"My transition from being an undergraduate to entering graduate school was ambiguous. I simply did not know when or where I was going. Discerning my vocation was a long, but important process that took about three years that started in my junior year of undergrad."
by Rick Mattson
"In my travels to campuses around the country (40 in the past two years), I meet up with a lot of students who are headed to grad school someday. Here is what I wish I could suggest to each one of them: Begin with the end in mind."
by Michael Stell
"I realized I had to become a scholar if I was going to take seriously the vocation of an academic."
by John Hundley
Our vocation is the specific realm — workplace, department, milieu — into which we bring God’s kingdom.
