CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
THE PEDANT
Volume 2 #3 February 2010
A Newsletter
for CGU
students,
propaganda for
the general
welfare.
pages 2-3:
campus news
pages 4-5:
a study of work
study
page 6:
bulletin board
page 7:
research and
awards
page 8:
events calendar
& more
The august north entrance to the Honnold/Mudd Library, re-opened for business.
Out with the (Honn)old, in with the (Honn)new
Ah, the librarian. Just edging out
Juan Valdez and Samuel Adams as a
graduate student’s best friend, the
sage librarian is happily obliged to
(among so many other things) hold
our trembling hands through the
bewildering matrices of the Dewey
Decimal System, check out our
armload of books, and send us
dutifully on our way. But make
delicious soup? While we can’t
credit librarians for everything, we
can say that the new Honnold Café
makes a mean bowl of split pea. And
that the cafe accounts for just a few
of the new additions recently made
to the Honnold/Mudd Library.
If distractions at home are making
home study impossible, the library
has always been a good call. Now
add to that: if the home pantry is
wanting, the library’s got what you
need. The Honnold Café, located on
the ground floor of the library, has a
generous supply of caffeinated, soft,
juiced, steeped, heated, and
refrigerated drinks; pastries and
baked goods baked on site; and
soups, sandwiches, and wraps made
daily – enough to put our
animatronically operated Cyber Café
to shame.
than just about any local eatery (7:30
a.m. to 1:00 a.m. when classes are in
session).
If the café is too glitzy for your
taste, you can escape through one of
the library’s newly reopened doors
via the north and south entrances.
Speaking of cyber-amenities, the
While a few tables and chairs have
café – like some futuristic newsstand been added to the north entrance, a
– is flanked by not only the library’s new and larger patio has been built
array of periodicals, but flat-screen
outside the south entrance (which
monitors that cycle through a
leads directly to the café). Or, if the
catalog of Claremont events and the café is too loud, there are a number
front-pages of national and
of “Quiet Rooms” situated
international newspapers. Many of
throughout the library. In addition,
these panels are designed to link up
there are plans to convert some of
with laptops and portable devices to the current spaces in the library to
facilitate group work, presentation
group study rooms, private carrels,
practice, or to just show off your
and other student and faculty spaces.
polished writing style to fellow cafégoers. Signals on the ground floor
The café and other renovations are
have also been enhanced for better
the brainchild of an intercollegiate
wireless and cell-phone connectivity. Library Task Force Study conducted
And if burning the midnight oil is
from 2006 to 2008. During the
your thing, the café is open later
study, representatives
CGU
factoid
As mentioned in
our feature article
on Federal Work
Study, a not-tooshabby (though
not-too-likely)
way to pay off
your student
loans is to win a
MacArthur
“Genius” Grant.
Three notable
CGU alums have
won this
prestigious
award. Can you
name one?
The answer’s on
page 8 . . .
(Continued on page 6)
Leisure with dignity 1
CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
cgu news
Replete with
tweets
Getty Leadership
Institute arrives in
Claremont
Like your Ryan Seacrests, Tila Tequilas,
or Joe Bidens, vanity – er, a desire to
connect with our fans on a more habitual
and interactive basis – has compelled us
to go live on Twitter.com.
Between semesters the Getty Leadership
Institute – which has trained over 1,000
museum professionals since 1979 – moved
from its previous home at the Getty Center
in Los Angeles to its new home on the
CGU campus. Along with the move came a
name change: the Getty Leadership
Institute at Claremont Graduate University.
The institute – jointly administered by the
School of Arts and Humanities and the
Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito
Graduate School of Management – is being
funded by a three-year, $2.2 million grant
from the Getty Foundation. So we got that
going for us. Which is nice.
The institute’s flagship program is a threeweek summer course for museum industry
professionals, but by partnering with CGU
they are looking to expand their programs.
There are currently few immediate
opportunities for students – the institute’s
first order of business is successfully
transitioning their current programs to their
new location. However, if anything comes
up, we’ll let you know.
You can follow us by searching
“CGUPedant.” There you’ll find a range
of daily campus updates,
announcements, student-centered
information, scholarship news, lunch
reviews, philosophical insights, and inoffice-jokes-you’ll-likely-not-get. If
whimsy is less your style, “CGUNews”
more earnestly reports campus events.
And for an even more interactive
platform, become a “fan” of “Claremont
Graduate University” on Facebook. Post
photos, sell term papers, debate healthcare reform, plug your own Twitter
page, what-evs.
Please use Twitter responsibly.
THE PEDANT is . . .
Brendan Babish — Managing Editor
Kevin Riel — Head Writer
Liz Nurenberg — Senior Colorist
One of our goals here at the Pedant is to keep
our ears to the ground and pass along
information on some of the perks of
Claremont life. Obviously, full access to the
Honnold/Mudd Library is one of the sweetest
perks, and in this issue we’ve written about
how it’s gotten even sweeter (though, sadly,
we also had to report on the closure of three
campus libraries).
editor’s
note
2 Otium cum dignitate
One thing I would like to emphasize is the
unique pleasure of loafing around the new
Honnold Café. While Hagelbarger’s has its
own charms (beers and plush couches, for
example), the Honnold Café has a limited
menu but comfortable seating and an extended
periodical selection for you to peruse while
killing time or decompressing. It’s like
hanging out near the magazine rack at
Borders, only there’s no implicit pressure to
buy anything.
Furthermore, a lot of CGU students who eat
on campus never venture beyond
Hagelbarger’s. While I’m particularly partial
to Hagelbarger’s Mexican fare, there are
several dining options at the other colleges
open to CGU students. One of our staff
member’s resolutions for the new year is to
venture to the other schools for lunch more
often. He’ll be Tweeting mini-reviews
throughout the semester, so this should give you
yet another reason to follow us on Twitter (our
handle is CGUPedant).
Brendan Babish
Managing Editor
brendan.babish@cgu.edu
the Pedant
February 2010
Volume 2, Number 3
Special thanks
to Susie Guilbault, John McDonald, the ISS
(esp. Kima), and anyone else who generously
gave their time to our humble publication;
and umbrellas.
Now playing on
iTunes U
In August, CGU went live on iTunes
University, with over 100 audio and video
files available to download. We – the Office
of University Communications – are
constantly uploading new content from CGU
faculty and guest lecturers, as well as content
from our archives. A sample of some recent
(and soon-to-be) uploads include:
Discounted or not, having options navigating
the So Cal transportation imbroglio is key.
In a station of the
Metrolink
The apparition of those discounted fares;
vanished petals on a dry, winter bough . . .
or something to that Imagist effect. Yes, as
of January, CGU students no longer
receive 25 percent discounts on Metrolink
fares.
For those who depended on the discounted
fares, we feel your pain. Regular fare prices
(in our humble estimation) are prohibitive.
If you’d like to get involved in the
movement to enhance the state of public
transportation in Southern California, the
Southern California Transit Advocates is a
good place to start (their website is
www.socata.net/intro.html).
While this is disappointing, for out-oftowners Metrolink is still a “decent” way to
avoid parking hassles, fly past rush-hour
traffic, and get last-minute reading done en
route. Check their website
(www.metrolinktrains.com) for routes,
fares, and schedules.
And if you were holding your breath about
the Gold Line being extended to the
Claremont Village, we hope you can hold it
for seven years. The most optimistic
timetable has construction slated for
completion in 2017. Geez, what a bunch of
downers we are, huh?
The School of Religion’s Institute of
Signifying Scripture goes Hollywood.
Film Premiere:
Finding God in the
City of Angels
At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 13, the
red carpet will roll into the Garrison
Theatre at Scripps College for the premiere
of Finding God in the City of Angels:
Scriptural Communities and Dynamics in
Los Angeles, a film conceived and
produced by the School of Religion’s
Institute for Signifying Scripture (ISS). The
screening will be free and open to the
public.
This documentary culminates more than a
year of investigative work. It explores how
the astonishing variety of religious
communities in Los Angeles is matched by
the equally varied ways these communities
(and individuals within them) conceive of,
respond to, and interact with “scriptures.”
CGU students were integral in the
production of the film. They participated in
everything from location scouting to
assisting on shoots, collaborating with a
professional team of filmmakers to capture
the rich textures of Los Angeles’s diverse
landscapes and lively inhabitants.
* Video and audio podcasts of CGU’s
Department of Music’s Midday Music at
Mudd concert series; check out Professor
Robert Zapulla jamming on the harpsichord.
* Videos of speakers from CGU’s recent
Bradshaw Conference in Early Modern
Philosophy held in December 2010. Also,
all of “Becomings, Misplacements,
Departures: Butler & Whitehead as
Catalysts for Contemporary Thought,”
including plenary presenter Judith Butler.
* Footage from many of the Drucker
Centennial events, including several
speakers from last November’s Drucker
Week.
* Interviews with several professors
discussing their research. Recent uploads
include Professor of History Robert
Dawidoff, Associate Professor of
Philosophy Patricia Easton, and Associate
Provost Wendy Martin, who is also a
professor of American literature and
American studies.
* The Drucker Institute is currently
digitalizing several years of video footage
of their namesake – Peter Drucker – and is
putting the footage up on iTunes U. Expect
to see new content of everyone’s favorite
management guru uploaded regularly.
You can download any of these podcasts
individually, or subscribe to the feeds of
CGU’s individual schools. Subscribing
ensures that newly uploaded material will be
downloaded to your iTunes library whenever
you refresh your Podcast Directory.
Looking forward, the production team is
exploring a range of distribution options,
including making it available for various
classroom settings. A website for the film
(www.findinggodinthecityofangeles.com)
is under construction and should be up and
running soon.
To watch the film’s trailer go to
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI2jBVhQGE. More information is also
available by contacting the ISS at
ISS@cgu.edu.
Download iTunesU content onto your fancy
new iPad.
Leisure with dignity 3
CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
Left: Work study back
in simpler times, back
when we were simply
called Claremont
College.
Right: Susie Guilbault,
Hell’s Angel of CGU
financial aid.
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO
KNOW ABOUT FEDERAL WORK STUDY
(But Were Afraid to Ask)
“Come on, let’s live the high life on student loans another
semester,” proposes the devil on our right shoulder. “What’s
another few thousand when we’re already six figures in
debt? Besides, we know that $500,000 MacAurthur
‘Genius’ Fellowship is coming any day.” Meanwhile, the
angel on your left is pleading that you continue reading this
article about how the Federal Work-Study Program (FWS)
can help ease your reliance on loans and amass valuable
work experience.
An animal of the 1960s, what was originally called the College
Work-Study Program (CWS) was spawned from former
President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society – a massive
collection of reform and spending programs meant to alleviate
racial injustice and poverty. A cornerstone of Johnson’s “War on
Poverty” was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which
created the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). This
federally mandated office oversaw a range of community-based
antipoverty programs. While the OEO and many of its programs
were repealed by the Ford, Nixon, and Reagan administrations,
some – like those created in 1965 under the Higher Education
Act (HEA) – survived.
Implemented to make college more affordable, the HEA
authorized, and continues to authorize, most federal student
financial aid programs. In 1965, CWS (renamed FWS in 1992)
was included in an array of grant and loan programs created by
the act. Today, more than 3,400 post-secondary institutions
4 Otium cum dignitate
participate in FWS, though it is available for domestic students
only. (For more on the complex history of financial aid in the
United States, a good site to visit is www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/
fsacoach/module.htm#m-1002-1-2-1.)
FWS was devised to make a college education more affordable
by offering undergraduate and graduate students part-time
employment while pursuing their degree. It also encourages
students to perform community service and work related to their
courses of study (including teaching and research
assistantships), preparing them for the wild world beyond the
safe embryo of university life. Aside from on-campus
employment, FWS may be applied to private nonprofit
organizations or public agencies. Another benefit of the program
has been that it provides universities and institutions that work
for the public interest with a pool of eager and educated labor
who work (at least for them) for free (or at a minimal percentage
of what they normally pay).
How much a student is paid depends on what type of work
they’re doing, skills required, employer generosity, and their
award amount. A student’s FWS salary could range from
minimum wage ($8.00 in California [except San Francisco
where it’s $9.79 – luckys!]) to a good deal more.
A student’s work study award depends on several factors: filing
their FAFSA by the priority deadline each year (March 2), what
the student’s federally determined need is, and how much FWS
money their school is awarded by the
government. A student’s level of need is
deciphered via a complex formula
established by the United States Congress.
It takes the data on your Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and
considers things like your expected family
contribution (EFC), plugs them into the
formula, and voilà! Your need is reported to
you on your Student Aid Report. (For a
more thorough account of this bureaucratic
magic, visit: www.ed.gov/programs/fws/
index.html.)
And just because a student is awarded a
certain amount, doesn’t mean they’ll get all
of it – and they don’t get the money
beforehand. No free rides here, sonny (or
daughtery). Instead, students are paid
directly by the school at least once a month
for the work they’ve done. Similarly, once a
student’s compensation has fulfilled their
award bequest, that’s it. Here at CGU, the
maximum award per student can be up to
$6,000 (up a thousand dollars from last
year, thanks to the Obama
administration’s infusion of more money
into FWS).
But what if you’re using graduate
school to defer the fate of getting a
real job? Understood. It’s terrifying
out there. Yet the day to leave the
university’s nest will come. Not to
worry though (at least for now).
Work-study jobs require that you
work 20 hours a week at most while
you’re in school (and no more than
40 hours a week during summer and
winter break). Also, since there is a
cap on how much you can make in a
year, you will usually work far less.
So if you’re jobaphobic, this is a
nice, non-threatening way to face
your fear. Furthermore, it’s not
likely you’ll have a Bill Lumberghtype boss asking you to work
overtime and weekends on those
pesky TPS reports during finals
week. Greeeat, m’kay. In fact, all workstudy employers are aware that you’re
simultaneously engaged in the most
demanding homework of your life, and are
required to be sympathetic and
accommodating if you need time off.
qualify, when we run out of funds, that’s it.
Some very deserving students do not
receive work study for just this reason,”
warns Susie Guilbault, assistant director of
the Office of Student Financing and the
queen bee of FWS here at CGU (more on
her later).
So you’ve filled out your FAFSA ahead of
time, applied for a job, and hey –
congratulations – you nabbed that part-time
gig working for Special Collections at the
Honnold Library (you bibliophile, you);
now what? Now you need to learn the ways
of the timesheet.
The timesheet is your friend. It keeps your
bills paid and stomach full. Disrespect the
timesheet, however, and you’re entering a
world of pain, Smokey. Timesheets can be
obtained from the Financial Aid Office,
same place they’re dropped off. Paychecks
are normally delivered to your program/
office, though other arrangements can be
made. Hold on to the pink copy of your
timesheet, as mistakes happen (errors to be
directed to the payroll office in the Human
Resources Department). Eventually, you
will receive a schedule listing pay periods
and dates to turn your timesheets in –
In order to be considered for FWS, it’s
usually every other Thursday at noon
crucial that you get your FAFSA in on time. (though keep up with your e-mail as dates
“It is very important that students complete are subject to change). Sometimes you will
the FAFSA by the priority deadline of
have to fill in hours that you haven’t worked
March 2. This deadline is the cutoff date
yet – don’t sweat it – it’s an honor system
that our office uses to award FWS. The only kind of deal. Your conscience knows, as
downside to this is that we are awarded a
does your supervisor who must sign your
specific amount and although many students completed timesheet. Once you’ve filled
everything out, gotten your supervisor’s
Hancock, you’re ready to turn that sucker in
and watch the untaxed income be hungrily
digested by your starving bank account.
Completed timesheets go to the
aforementioned Guilbault. A quick word to
the wise: It pays to be nice to Susie – say hi
and get your stuff in on time; also, it
couldn’t hurt to remember her on holidays,
bring flowers or Brett Favre memorabilia
(when you visit her office you’ll see why),
write stories about her in your school’s
student newsletter, etc. So on that day (and
that day will very likely come) when you
arrive at her office in a panic because you’re
already 30 days late on the water bill and
(drats!) it’s 4:30 and you forgot to turn in
your timesheet, she might – might! – be able
(/willing) to help you. However, speaking
from experience, don’t even try it. If you’re
away or forget, those funds will be held
until the next pay period. For shame.
If you’re even just
curious, the CGU
job postings site is
worth a peak:
www.cgu.edu/
pages/1162.asp.
Don’t be shy;
there’s no harm in
looking. There
you’ll find listings
as broad as working
as an office
assistant for our
very own CGU
Advancement
Office to checking
out children’s lit at
the Stone Center to
working as a
research assistant
for a parents
advocacy group.
Who knows, you
may find a job that
leads to a career. Or the inkling of a
future career. Or what you’re definitely not
cut out for. Either way, good “life lessons”
potential here.
And even though FWS won’t make you
rich, everything helps when we’re so
financially vulnerable. With interest rates,
there’s no telling how much money working
now will save you in the long run. It’s hard
to imagine you’ll regret it. In fact, you’ll
almost surely be thanking yourself years
from now, which is far better than having to
explain to the bankruptcy judge: the devil
made me do it.
Leisure with dignity 5
CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
(Continued from page 1)
from all the Claremont Colleges toured
several recently renovated academic libraries
(Rice University, Duke University, among
others) and came away with a long list of
trends and successful experiments. One
theme that prominently emerged was the
benefit of a more liberal food-in-the-library
policy and the addition of a café. Students
played an active role in the Honnold/Mudd
renovations, advising and taking part in focus
groups. Funds for the renovations were part
of a bond that was established five years ago,
so that after the findings of the study were
concluded, construction began.
“We’ve since received great feedback on the
renovations,” says John McDonald, the
libraries’ director of Information and
Bibliographic Management and Faculty
Relations. “Though the observational
evidence is much stronger: the cafe is packed
at most hours and the rest of the building is
seeing greater usage as students discover that
it’s so much improved.”
As for the libraries no longer with us (closed
due to budget cuts) – R.I.P.: the Seeley G.
Mudd Library, the Sprague Library, and, as of
July 2010, the Denison Library – their
materials have moved either to the Honnold/
Mudd Library or the Records Center, an
offsite storage facility on 11th Street in
Upland. The Records Center houses
approximately 200,000 bound journal
volumes that have no online version available
(the library now subscribes to more than
45,000 online journals as opposed to the
5,000 volumes that were available preInternet). With so many more research
options made available by the Internet, the
Honnold/Mudd Library is focusing more on
increasing the number of librarians available
to assist students wading through this everexpanding ocean of information.
To request materials from the Records Center
simply go to the library catalog and follow
the directions. You can also visit the facility
yourself, weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. (Remember to bring your ID as the
facility is open only to current students,
faculty, and staff.) Moreover, the Honnold/
Mudd Library will soon provide a shuttle
service to the Records Center (check back
with their website: http://
libraries.claremont.edu/ for a forthcoming
schedule).
Looking ahead, CUC is developing a state-ofthe-art search engine – christened Sherlock –
that will make it easier for students and
faculty to do research, access materials, and
manage their library information.
So whether you’re having trouble finding
good research on student morale or looking to
boost your own morale with some Honnold
Café chicken soup for the soul – ask a
librarian – he or she will help you find it.
6 Otium cum dignitate
bulletin board
Kicking it with
Sunday Soccer
Dissertation Boot
Camp
Looking for a way to kick off the new year
with a little more exercise? Football
season’s over (Chargers lost), so turn off
the TV, strap on your shin guards and
realize those fitness goooooaaaaalllllll!!!!s
with a little Sunday Soccer.
Ten-hut! Has your dissertation been on
R&R too long? Whip it into shape with
Dissertation Boot Camp at the CGU
Writing Center.
Dissertation Boot Camp is a chance for
ABDs (code for “all but dissertation”) to
find strength in numbers in a distractionAll levels of play are welcome, boys and
girls alike. This is great opportunity to get free environment. You’ll spend a weekend
out, have fun, and meet some new people. with other students doing just about
Friendly pick-up games begin around 3:00 nothing but writing! Aside from
companionship, the Writing Center
p.m. at the field next to the CMC Dining
Hall (corner of 6th Street and Mills Street). provides the workspace, coffee, lunch, and
stretch breaks. Moreover, Writing Center
Games are typically seven on seven,
consultants will be available to answer
though the more the merrier.
questions and give feedback.
For updates or to pad your friend count,
If you’re a current CGU student and ABD,
follow “SundaySoccer Claremont” on
you’re eligible to enlist (participation is
Facebook (www.facebook.com/
claremontsoccer). For more information e- limited to 10 students). The next boot
camp is set for February 6 and 7. To
mail claremont.soccer@gmail.com.
reserve your space, go the CGU Writing
Center (141 E. 12th Street) and provide a
$50 check made out to the “CGU Writing
Center” as your deposit (which will be
returned when you attend or cancel before
9 a.m. on Friday, February 5).
For continual updates visit their website at
www.cgu.edu/pages/799.asp; or their blog,
http://cgudissertations.blogspot.com,
which has good information and is a great
way to get a sense of what you’ll be in for.
If you have questions call (909) 607-0012
or e-mail writecenter@cgu.edu.
Right: Not to worry, says
Sargaent Slaughter,
“push ups are optional
at the CGU Writing
Center’s Dissertation
Boot Camp.”
research and awards
CGU Conferences
Whatever RefWorks
No need to travel cross-country (or -county)
to get in on the conference game. There are
two upcoming conferences to be held here at
CGU, and one is still accepting proposals.
Relying on sticky notes, note cards, or
scraps of paper to organize your research is
so 1999. It’s definitely time to learn to use
RefWorks, and the Honnold/Mudd Library
is holding workshops this spring semester
to show you how.
The Minority Mentor Program (MMP) is
putting on its 11th Annual Student Research
Conference and Art Exhibition on Friday,
April 2. Dubbed Spaces in Between: Igniting
Conversations Among Disciplines, the forum
will convene to discuss challenges affecting
our communities, the nation, and global
society. As it becomes available, conference
information and updates regarding speakers
will be posted at: http://www.cgu.edu/
mmpconference.
Friday, April 9 the Cultural Studies
Department will host Subverting the Margin:
Transgressing Boundaries, Displacing
Grand Narratives, and Investing in
Solidarity. This conference will accept
papers “discussing the need to challenge
grand narratives and the rigid boundaries of
hegemony,” and will be selected from the
following areas: media, subculture, pop
culture, politics, the nation, gender,
sexuality, race, ethnicity, and ability,
disability. Send abstracts to:
susan.hampson@cgu.edu by midnight
February 12.
RefWorks is a web-based bibliography
management system that allows you to
create and manage your own personal
database of articles, web pages, and other
types of information valuable for your
research. In this workshop you will learn
the basics of RefWorks, how to create a
database and import records. You will also
learn how to use the records in your
database to format notes and bibliographies
in the appropriate style (MLA, APA, etc.)
for your papers.
Thursday, February 25 5:00 p.m. - 7:00p.m.
Wednesday, March 3 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 9 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
To register for one of these workshops
email Gale Burrow at
gale.burrow@libraries.claremont.edu (with
“RefWorks Workshop” in the subject line).
Additional workshops will be offered after
spring break. For the most current listing of
workshops, visit the Libraries web site at
http://libraries.claremont.edu/schedule/
workshops.
Workshops will be held in the Keck
Learning Room, Honnold/Mudd Library. If
you plan to bring your own laptop rather
than use a library computer, be sure that
your wireless card has been registered for
the CINE network by academic computing
on your campus. Workshop dates are:
Wednesday, February 3 6:00 p.m. - 8:00
p.m.
Tuesday, February 9 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Monday, February 15 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Leisure with dignity 7
CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY
CGU factoid
And the winners are [drumroll]:
Kathleen A. Ross (PhD, Education,
1954), James Turrell (MFA, Art, 1973),
and Claire Van Vliet (MFA, Art, 1954).
The awards are given annually to
between 20-40 United States citizens or
residents by the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation. Recipients come
from all fields and “show exceptional
merit and promise for continued and
enhanced creative work,” says the
MacArthur Foundation website. The
current award amount is $500,000 (suck
on that, student loans!). Something to
shoot for, anyway.
Graduate tips
CGU Professors Paul Gray and
David E. Drew, authors of What
They Didn’t Teach You in Graduate
School: 199 Helpful Hints for
Success in Your Academic Career,
have been kind enough to allow us
to publish one helpful hint from
their book in each issue. This is so
that one day you don’t raise your
fist in the air and curse CGU for not
teaching you to . . .
28. THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND applies to
academia as much as to other fields. You are playing a futures
game on the job market, no different from a high roller in the
stock market, when you select a field of study for your PhD.
Since it takes four to seven years or more to acquire the degree,
you make the assumption that your services will be in demand
several years from now. They may be, but then again they may
not be. Fields move in and out of favor over time. When a hot
new field or specialty opens up, it is an exciting time. Lots of
people wander in from adjacent fields. They form departments
of concentration areas and begin training PhDs in that specialty.
People are in short supply and good salaries are offered.
However, what usually happens is that within a relatively short
period of time, the PhD market becomes saturated and jobs
become scarcer. Furthermore, other new specialties emerge and
schools cut back on the previous fad. A classic example is
operations research (also known as management science). In
the 1960s, new departments were formed. By the 1980s, the job
market was saturated. In the last decade the supply exceeded
the demand, and this in a field that offers industrial as well as
academic employment. The obvious implication for graduate
students is the fields with an oversupply of applicants make it
much harder to obtain either an initial job or tenure.
Furthermore, the academic prestige of the school where you
will be hired will, on average, be lower and so will the salary.
8 Otium cum dignitate
Events calendar
CGU
January 23 to April 11 – Pomona Art Museum present Helen Pashgian’s
“Working in Light,” Amanda Ross-Ho’s “Project Series 40,” and “Famous for
15: Andy Warhol to you camera phone.”
January 28 to March 19 – Pitzer Art Galleries and the Center for Social
Inquiry at Pitzer College are exhibiting “Capitalism in Question.”
February 6 – Strike up the band for the 18th annual Ussachevsky Memorial
Festival concert. Electronic and acoustic music by faculty, students, and guest
performers. 8:00 p.m. at the Thatcher Music Building, Lyman Hall. (BTW:
unless stated, all concerts listed are free and open to the public.)
February 10 – Hot dog! The Food and Farming Film Festival present The
Garden. 7:30 p.m. Rose Hill Theatre (170 E. 6th Street).
February 11 – Brown University’s own Rhacel Parrenas lectures on “The
Stalled Gender Revolution in the Phillippines: Migrant Mothering and Social
Transformations.” 5:30 p.m. at Garrison Theatre at Scripps College.
February 12 – Friday Noon Concert: Songs of Manuel de falla; Nineteenthcentury Russian Roma romansy; Samuel Barber, Hermit Songs, Op. 29. 12:15
p.m. Balch Auditorium (10th and Columbia).
Grammy award-winning fiddler Richard Greene (yee-ha!) and other celebrate
“Bluegrass and Old-Time Music” at the Bridges Hall of Music, 8:00 p.m.
February 14 – Spread your wings at the Winter Bird Festival. 10:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m., Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (1500 N. College Avenue).
February 16 – First Annual Robinson Lecture: “A Critical Celebration of the
Contributions to the Study of Early Christianity,” by James M. Robinson, with
Special Attention to Q and Gnosticism. Features talks by Marv Meyer and
Dennis MacDonald followed by a panel discussion. 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.,
Albrecht Auditorium.
February 19 – Friday Noon Concert: Music of Debussy, Liszt, and George
Crumb. 12:15 p.m. Balch Auditorium.
February 26 – Friday Noon Concert: Eric Lindholm Incantation and Debussy
Trio Sonate. 12:15 p.m. Balch Auditorium.
February 27 – The Claremont Concert Orchestra Winter Concert, 8:00 p.m.
Garrison Theatre.
February 28 – In case you missed it or just want more: The Claremont
Concert Orchestra Winter Concert, this time 3:00 p.m.
Bring your courage to Open Mic Night at the Folk Music Center (220 Yale
Avenue). 6:30 p.m. (6:00 if you want to sign up to perform). Admission: $1.
March 4 – Food and Farming Film Festival presents "The Gleaners and I".
7:30 p.m. Rose Hill Theatre.
March 9 – Contemporary Kinship Film Series: Jealous of the Birds. 5:30 p.m.,
Garrison Theatre.
March 15 to 19 – Spring Break ’10. Behave yourself this year (you know who
you are), you’re in graduate school.