The University of Adelaide

The campus of the University of Adelaide is urban, located just next to the downtown area of the city. It was the third university established in Australia, begun in 1879, and some of its buildings date from that time. Although compact, it is a beautiful campus with lots of character.

A Walk Through An Adelaide Neighborhood

I just finished up a good week in Adelaide and am finally getting around to posting some pictures of my time there.

I went to Adelaide (about a 2 hr flight west from Sydney, located in the state of South Australia) in order to interview one of the academics who was a key leader in the life of the  partnership between IU and the Australia National University. (A refresher: I am exploring an academic partnership between IU and the ANU for my doctoral dissertation. I have spent the bulk of my time in Oz in Canberra, which is where the ANU is located). He has subsequently taken a position at the University of Adelaide. Since my funding organization urged me to go there to interview him in person rather than, say, simply doing so on the phone - and since they are paying for it - I was happy to oblige! 

While there, I enjoyed the hospitality of Peter and Margaret Gunn, longtime friends of Mom and Dad Hawkins. The Gunns met the Hawkins at Blacknall many years ago while Peter Gunn took a sabbatical from his Australian university in order to visit and study at Duke University.

The architecture throughout Adelaide was really pretty, and for me was reminiscent of Cape Town - tin roofs, single-story, stone walls, and small gardens with flowers that bloom even in the winter (remember, it's winter down here). I took a walk to try to capture some of the feel of their suburb, called Prospect.

The front door of the Gunn's home, my home for my week in Adelaide (a photo of the Gunns below).

Here are my gracious hosts during my week in Adelaide, Margaret and Peter Gunn. They are offering me Vegemite spread thinly (important! very salty!) on crackers.

Last Days at my Grad Assistantship...!

It has been three very good years at the National Survey of Student Engagement, where my graduate assistantship has been located, but Wednesday, July 18, was my last day! It felt weird to clear out papers, books, and other nicknacks that had gathered during my three years at the Survey. It is time to move on (and no, I presently have no idea what I'm moving on TO...trusting God for that!!). Working at NSSE was a great experience - I especially enjoyed working with many wonderful people, including faculty, staff, and fellow students. Here are a few, as I said my final goodbyes.

Pizza at Mother Bear's with Malika (from Kazakstan) and Javier (from Spain). Malika is a year ahead of me in the program and worked down the hall at NSSE. Gemma likes her a lot, too!

I've had a wonderful supervisor in Shimon Sarraf, Assistant Director of Survey Operations and Client Services for NSSE. Here we are, celebrating with a lunch at Samira's (Afghanistan) Restaurant during my final week.

Alison is one of NSSE's full-time research analysts and was a consistent encouragement to me. We worked on several projects together, including a paper we presented at a conference in Charlotte last year, 'Student Engagement and Global Awareness.'

Brian McGowan - a good friend, NSSE colleague, and fellow Higher Education student in my cohort.

Alex McCormick is the NSSE Director and my academic advisor. He played a central role in my IU experience and I am indebted to him for many hours of listening, advice, and encouragement.

Another good friend and cohort member, Eddie Cole, who also worked at NSSE with me.

Tom Nelson Laird directs the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, a partner survey to NSSE. He has been a great sounding board regarding my dissertation topic and helped me to think through important theoretical issues.

Date Night celebrations

A date night - woa!! Out to dinner & a walk around campus & dessert to celebrate:

•  the end of the academic year - and the wonderful beginning of a quiet B-town summer as masses of students pack up & leave town
  
• Jim's acceptance of an article for publication in a professional journal 
• reaching 14 weeks and the start of Jul's 2nd trimester
• Gemma's happy disposition with our sweet babysitter, Kailee, and how easily she takes to a new friend putting her to bed (peace of mind for mom)

In front of IU's Sample Gates (there was a strong breeze...)

our favorite HUGE gingko tree on campus (hard to capture)

In front of the Memorial Union student center - Yes, it was a night of self-portraits

Our favorite HUGE oak tree on campus

 

Good news for Jim - and sunny days!

Why the red plate, you ask? We were celebrating Jim's successful defense of his Dissertation Proposal!! He submitted his proposal - also the first 3 chapters of the dissertation - to his advisory committee (three faculty members at IU), and then set up the Defense. They talked through the chapters and his strategy to complete his research. Their feedback, in a word: Excellent.

Sorry, Jim, hopefully I'm not butchering the summary. The important thing is: he is now officially approved for his research! Now on to interviews and research and setting up his trip to Australia! More on that later.

(P.S. in the round dish is sweet potato spoon bread, a new recipe from the owner of Foster's Market in Durham. Quite tasty. And yes, that is Gemma signing "more" - she was hungry.)

On the home front, we have been really enjoying the mild winter - with the heat off, the back door open, and clothes & diapers out to dry on the clothesline!

Here's my new fun thing: re-growing green onions. Just keep them in water, snip & use as they grow, and they will continue to sprout.

Of course we also have been frequenters at the park on these sunny days. Say the word "park" or "walk" and Gemma races to the door, pointing to her stroller and ready to go. She is rapidly gaining new vocabulary and amazing us every day with her new words and sense of humor. New favorites: stuck, walk, Y (for the YMCA), outside, park, wet, achoo, pretzel, fast, snack, bath, bubbles and pizza. This afternoon when she got up from her nap, she said, "Momma, Daddy work?"

Here are some scenes from a sunny, windy afternoon at Olcott Park.

Another school year begins

To mark the beginning of another year at Indiana University - my third! - we went for a walk across campus. I completed my coursework this summer and also recently finished comprehensive exams. I don't know the outcome yet, but I feel good about what I wrote and will just have to wait and see. My focus for the fall semester, trusting that I passed exams, will be writing the dissertation proposal.
I also continue my assistantship with the National Survey of Student Engagement (www.nsse.iub.edu) at the Center for Postsecondary Research. As a research project associate, I assist with the update and revision process for the survey, a process that becomes necessary simply with the passage of time since it was developed a decade ago and the many changes to higher education in the US since then. It is fun to be involved in this project and I'm learning much. I work with great people, which is also a wonderful blessing.

Gemma comes face-to-face with the bronze statue of Herman Wells, chancellor at IU, 1938-1962. He is a mythic figure here, revered for his leadership and vision, his love for students, and his ability to get things done. That said, many pose beside his statue for a photo. Gemma seems a tad uncertain about the man, however...

End of the Semester!

What a great feeling it is to complete another semester of doctoral studies!! That makes 1 1/2 years into the program and another semester closer to finishing coursework (hopefully by end of next summer).

I just submitted the final paper for my Literature Review course, the first of a two-course sequence taken during the final year of classes that is meant to help launch students into the dissertation. I'll take the next course in the sequence in the spring semester.

I enjoyed the Lit Review class very much - it pushed me to think carefully about what I want to focus on for the dissertation and to find and read hundreds of pages per week on my topic. We're told that it is important to pick a topic that is interesting to us, since we'll be spending hours and hours (and hours) reading, thinking, and writing about it in the next few years. I am focusing on the internationalization of higher education, specifically on international partnerships between universities in the US and overseas. If all goes as planned, I hope to begin research next fall.

Gemma served as my quality control supervisor, as you can see. The final paper for the course consisted of a review of the key constructs related to my topic: mine concluded at 60 pages, inclusive of references (122 of them). Yikes, I hope my professor doesn't fall asleep reading it.

Guys' Pancake Breakfast

As an end-of-first-year-of-doctoral-studies celebration, I invited a number of my fellow classmates to our place for a Saturday morning pancake breakfast. We ate lots of pancakes and basked in the fact that we have completed (nearly - one more week!) our first year in the Higher Education and Student Affairs doctoral program at IU. Good times!

Autumn on Campus at IU

This week Jim took a few photos on his walk through campus from Eigenmann Hall (his office) to the bus-stop - a daily route for him. The bus line runs straight down from campus to our south side of town and stops just outside the Sherwood Hills subdivision. So he has a 15 min. bus ride and 15-20 min. walk every day.

This is not Eigenmann Hall, but it's very pretty and typical of many of the limestone buildings on campus.
Yes (above) that's the side view of the Wells Library. An "interesting" design. (There are windows on the lower two levels; you can't see them in this photo.)

Also this week we had two of Jim's colleagues and co-students over for dinner: Brian (1st year; shares all the same classes as Jim) and Debbie (2nd year and Jim's 'partner' in his assistantship in client services at NSSE on campus). Read some more about NSSE here. They were our first official dinner guests in the new place!! (after family of course) Debbie even brought homemade cream puffs and custard, a family tradition of hers.