"My experience as a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology had a profound impact on my educational development and professional career. From my very first days as a new student I felt welcomed and supported by the collegiate and community-centered staff, faculty, and students in the Department. I benefitted from classes with peers and faculty who encouraged me to tackle challenging issues and take chances with new ways of thinking or new methods for conducting research. My committee remained a constant source of encouragement throughout my graduate studies. I felt like a respected colleague whose work was worthy of their time and collaboration- something that made a lasting impact on me. My committee, especially my supervisor Dr. William Walters, were incredibly supportive as I defended my dissertation and began the challenging work of determining what the next steps in my professional career would be. The Department went so far as to establish the Graduate Student Transitions Mentor program, which supports upper year graduate students as they transition from student to professional and navigate all the challenges of the job market. I am forever grateful for this program and the space it offered me to explore a research career both within the academy as well as outside or adjacent to a typical tenure-track job. Ultimately, I was able to mobilize the skills and experiences I gained as a graduate student into my dream job as the Director of Research for MediaSmarts- a national non-profit organization for digital media literacy. This job allows me to utilize all of my favorite parts of graduate studies: critical thinking, grounded and community-driven research, and knowledge mobilization. I've had incredible opportunities to present research findings to the Canadian government, comment on United Nations task force work, and build many bridges between academia, industry, and policy-makers. I also have the privilege of supervising other graduate students in this role, either as placement students, research assistants, or colleagues. The support and encouragement I received in my days as a graduate student in the Sociology and Anthropology department has been absolutely formative to my own supervisory approach. I will always look back on my time as a PhD student at Carleton fondly and gratefully move forward with the experiences and confidence I've gained."
