I started my PhD in Music in 2006, working on music for the times of pestilence in the Renaissance. My supervisor was always very available, often meeting within a week of my questions, but gave me the freedom to work at my own pace.  Her command of scholarship in the field was invaluable. I also had a good, strong cohort, and people were very supportive; funding was generally quite good, and not an area of tension. External and internal multi-year grants helped the most; you can’t be expected to budget your life around teaching and researching assistantships.

I finished my degree in six years, which was the right amount of time for me. After my degree, I went straight into my current tenure-track appointment at Loyola University Maryland, where I’m an Assistant Professor of Music in the Fine Arts Department. At Loyola, the faculty is a close-knit, lively group, and there is a lot of diversity—art historians, theatre scholars, studio artists, photographers—among the members.

My doctoral work is relevant to my current work—I’ve just completed the manuscript for a book project based largely around my dissertation. I wish I’d been better prepared for the reality of research outside of an R1 institution; proceeding without the same built-in institutional wealth of resources, including library databases, archives, and travel funds,  affects the kind and amount of work you can do.

I’ve also learned a lot from teaching. In the larger lecture classes sizes at McGill, efficiency and expediency were major concerns, often limiting pedagogical choices. McGill also has a strong School of Music, so many of the materials I compiled for teaching weren’t suitable for the non-specialized students that I’m mostly working with now. At Loyola, a liberal arts college, the teaching demands and classroom dynamics are different, and we’re encouraged to engage more closely with the students. Although it’s difficult for R1 schools like McGill, where faculty are mostly accustomed to R1 teaching paradigms, to prepare for these different pedagogical styles, perhaps workshops or discussions of more diverse teaching strategies, training, etc. would be helpful for future students—not all PhDs will end up at an R1, after all.

In hindsight, I wish I’d known about the realities of working at different types of academic institutions , as well as alternative forms of employment outside of academia, especially considering the crash of 2008-2009. Knowing these things would not have dissuaded me from doing my PhD, but I would have been more clear-headed in terms of planning for alternative careers.

I started my PhD in Music in 2006, working on music for the times of pestilence in the Renaissance. My supervisor was always very available, often meeting within a week of my questions, but gave me the freedom to work at my own pace.  Her command of scholarship in the field was invaluable. I also had a good, strong cohort, and people were very supportive; funding was generally quite good, and not an area of tension. External and internal multi-year grants helped the most; you can’t be expected to budget your life around teaching and researching assistantships.

I finished my degree in six years, which was the right amount of time for me. After my degree, I went straight into my current tenure-track appointment at Loyola University Maryland, where I’m an Assistant Professor of Music in the Fine Arts Department. At Loyola, the faculty is a close-knit, lively group, and there is a lot of diversity—art historians, theatre scholars, studio artists, photographers—among the members.

My doctoral work is relevant to my current work—I’ve just completed the manuscript for a book project based largely around my dissertation. I wish I’d been better prepared for the reality of research outside of an R1 institution; proceeding without the same built-in institutional wealth of resources, including library databases, archives, and travel funds,  affects the kind and amount of work you can do.

I’ve also learned a lot from teaching. In the larger lecture classes sizes at McGill, efficiency and expediency were major concerns, often limiting pedagogical choices. McGill also has a strong School of Music, so many of the materials I compiled for teaching weren’t suitable for the non-specialized students that I’m mostly working with now. At Loyola, a liberal arts college, the teaching demands and classroom dynamics are different, and we’re encouraged to engage more closely with the students. Although it’s difficult for R1 schools like McGill, where faculty are mostly accustomed to R1 teaching paradigms, to prepare for these different pedagogical styles, perhaps workshops or discussions of more diverse teaching strategies, training, etc. would be helpful for future students—not all PhDs will end up at an R1, after all.

In hindsight, I wish I’d known about the realities of working at different types of academic institutions , as well as alternative forms of employment outside of academia, especially considering the crash of 2008-2009. Knowing these things would not have dissuaded me from doing my PhD, but I would have been more clear-headed in terms of planning for alternative careers.