what does a PhD mean?

Have you ever thought about how people with a PhD are perceived outside of academia? In terms of the job search, you can be perceived to be overqualified and undertrained. Here's one example (via Dilbert):

So have you experienced this? From friends, family? "So what exactly are you going to do with that?" "But you're not going to be a real doctor..." "You've been in school for how many years and you're going to get paid what to be a professor?" (That one is especially for folks who are accepting jobs at SLACs.)

But it's not all negative. Here's another side of what a PhD looks like via Doonesbury:

The comic above does a lot to debunk quite a few myths. There's a pregnant woman who just completed her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. (Thank you, Mr. Trudeau.) Undoubtedly there is someone out there who is doing research on how PhDs and academics in general are portrayed in the media, etc. (As a fun exercise, search "professor" under clip art and see what comes up.)

For this week, I'll leave you with those thoughts. Here's to an awesome, productive (and/or relaxing) Memorial Day weekend. 

- Dawn

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Upcoming events:

Graduate Student Support Group
This summer in conjunction with CAPS, we're starting a Graduate Student support group that will meet weekly through the summer. If you're interested, please send me an email at dfarver(at)uark(dot)edu and I'll put you on the list. It's all anonymous and confidential. 

Career Development Workshops
I'm planning on giving one or two workshops on job searching for academic positions this summer. Keep your eyes peeled and I'll post the dates as soon as arrangements have been made. If you're looking for a faculty position to start August 2014, the time to put together your application materials is NOW!

Next week: A post about start-up funds. What they are and what you need to know...