And what does she do with it?
By Alex Ellison
I was accepted to the University of Chicago to their MA Program in Social Sciences. I visited, sent in my deposit and then backed out.
I moved out west. I started a business. I had a kid.
I applied to the Masters in Education Technology program at the University of Nevada. I started, realized it was not what I wanted and stopped.
I applied to the Masters in Public Administration program at the University of Nevada. I didn’t start.
Business grew. Kid grew…
I reapplied to the Masters in Public Administration program. 2 years later I finished. I did it for me. I wasn’t looking to get a job with the degree. I wasn’t looking to get a pay raise, since I was my own boss. I did it because I liked school and I also thought I might do more government contracting in the future (I was doing contract work with school districts), for which this degree would be helpful. But my reasons for getting my masters were largely personal, not professional.
I did get a research grant while I was in graduate school to go to Switzerland and investigate their dual education system and apprenticeship model. This work fascinated me and led to some interesting work in northern Nevada. However, once out of my masters, the umbrella was gone. The “home institution” no longer existed. I was busy with my work, but I tried to continue the research on my own, but it just felt futile without mentors and support.
I talked to another mom about this. She is a full-time teacher with 3 kids; she was a Fulbright scholar and she has two masters degrees. She too lamented over the difficulty in finding organizations, think tanks and fellowships to attach to when no longer available for, or interested in, a full-time research commitment, a job in the field, or a PhD.
I would love to see a conversation at MPSA’s Annual Conference this year around continuing our research when we are no longer officially “in the field,” yet we want to continue our research on the side and continue to be part of the political science and public policy community.
Alex Ellison will be a blogger at the Annual MPSA (Midwest Political Science Association) Conference in Chicago, IL. You can learn more about the conference and schedule here. She will be attending the Trying to Balance Work & Life andGrant Opportunities & Strategies sessions. Read more from Alex Ellison on Medium.