Graduate Study in the USA

Christopher McMaster (PhD, University of Canterbury) has taught for over 15 years as a regular and special educator in the United Kingdom, United States, Nicaragua, and New Zealand. He is currently Assistant Professor of Education at Augsburg College, Minneapolis. He co-edited and contributed to Postgraduate Study in Aotearoa New Zealand: Surviving and Succeeding (2014) and is currently lead editor for the Survive and Succeed series in the UK, US, Australia, and South Africa. He has recently published his first solo authored book through Peter Lang, Educating All: Developing Inclusive School Cultures From Within (2015).
Caterina Murphy (PhD, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi) is an experienced book developer, presenter, and academic writer and has partnered with Chris McMaster across the global Surviving and Succeeding series. She has worked in the education sector for 29 years, and held senior roles in tertiary education since 1999. Her professional and research interests include early years education, teaching practice, mentoring, qualitative research, gifted education, anthropology, and oral history methodology. She actively mentors adolescents, undergraduates, and postgraduates in Aotearoa New Zealand and freelances her academic leadership services through AcademicExpressNZ.

The premise of this book is simple: if the chapter writers could go back in time and talk with themselves when they began their studies, what advice would they give? Isn't hindsight a bonus? Each chapter offers this hindsight. The chapters are not personal stories, but useful lessons learned through experience. These lessons are offered to aspiring and current graduate students to help their studies be successful. Chapters contain contributions from a range of academics and academic-practitioners, from those getting established in their careers to those that are more novice and emergent. Contributors include scholars from many universities throughout the United States, and they cover essential aspects of graduate study, such as writing and publishing, relationships with supervisors, utilizing rejection and critique, and becoming a researcher. Contributors write of studying for higher degrees and coping with family, illness, disability, and distance. Culture is bridged between Hispanic scholars and their colleagues in mainstream academia, and international students offer advice to those wanting to study at an American university. This book provides indispensable advice that every graduate student can utilize and follows on from the initial, successful publication of Postgraduate Study in Aotearoa New Zealand: Surviving and Succeeding (2014). The US edition is part of an international 'survive and succeed' series also being produced in Australia, the UK, and South Africa.

Contributors of this volume include scholars from many universities throughout the United States, and they cover essential aspects of graduate study, such as writing and publishing, relationships with supervisors, utilizing rejection and critique, and becoming a researcher. Contributors write of studying for higher degrees and coping with family, illness, disability, and distance.

Contents: Harry C. Boyte: Surviving the Rat Race and Becoming Citizen Professionals - Christopher McMaster and Caterina Murphy: Preface and Acknowledgments - Melissa Dennihy: Making the Most of the Conference Experience - Magdalena Leszko: Give Yourself a Chance: Apply for a Scholarship - Debra A. Trusty: Strength in Numbers: Starting and Managing a Dissertation Support Group -
Ju Seong Lee: How to Turn a Good Relationship with Your Supervisor into a Great One - Atsushi Iida: Scholarly Publication: A Multilingual Perspective - Ken Nielsen: Utopian Alienation: Becoming an Academic Writer in the USA - Christopher McMaster: Thinking Bigger: Editing a Book 101 - Danielle Shepherd: Paying It Forward: Engaging the Next Generation of Professional Students - Raisa Alvarado Uchima y Jaime Guzmán: We're Not in the Barrio Anymore: Negotiating Chicana/o Guilt in the Ivory Tower - Timothy Weldon: Navigating Academia's Invisible Margins: Different (dis)Abilities in Graduate Studies - Yessica Garcia Hernandez: A Working-Class Chicana Navigating a PhD Program While Feeling Like an Impostor - Lara Rose Roberts: Dis / Advantage: Finding the Middle Between High-Achieving and Hell - Christopher A. Huff: Navigating Traditional Graduate Programs as a Non-Traditional Student - Nicholas R. Werse and B. J. Parker: The Student's Practical Guide to Not Losing Your Soul - Tabatha Hoffmeyer: Hooker Boots and Edgar Allan Poe: Finding Inspiration in Grad School - Rebecca Zimmer: Seeing the Stars - Alison S. Marzocchi: You Can Actually Enjoy Your Life While in Graduate School. How? Don't Procrastinate - Alison Hicks: 17 Hours Behind: Studying at a Distance - Alistair Kwan: Navigating Academic Culture Shock: Advice for International Students - William M. Hurtes: Southern Exposure: Learning Through Experiences Overseas - Contributors.