The Halls of Higher Learning

The University of South Carolina (1801) is central to the city of Columbia, the state capital. It boasts an enrolment of 25,000 students in many faculties, with education being one of them. My PhD is in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy, where my classes are held in the Wardlaw Building.

EDLP 807 Leadership and the individual
EDRM 740 Qualitative Research Methods
EDHE 730 The History of Higher Education in America

In April I will write my Comprehensive Exam, which is 9 hours of writing and 2 hours oral. Yikes! My thesis committee will prepare this. After the classes I am taking now, I will nbe ready to start spending all my time on thesis writing. What is my thesis topic? School Board Governance and Democracy.

This semester I will be working as a graduate assistant to the EDLP professors. They have given me a desk with a computer, so I'll give them 20 hours of work a week. I am so appreciative of the faculty for this opportunity.

The residence in which we love (oops, a Freudian slip), I mean live, needs some updating, but the staff are very friendly. We've had heat problems, water problems, and vibration (we are directly over the mechanical room) problems. We are moving apartments next week when another one becomes available. Fortunately we don't have much to move.

With the weekend ahead, I must start my reading, reading...did I mention reading?

A Walk in the Park

Heaven Scent

The drive from Nova Scotia was a long one, but I did more sleeping than driving. I let Lorne handle the New Jersey Turnpike, which he did with skill and daring, as the freezing rain under the tires and on the windscreen was no fun. Arriving in South Carolina was exciting. We opened the sunroof, enjoying the 15C temperatures and the balmy southern wind. Again we were in the land of the Southern drawl, where one sylable words become two. Music to our effecient and industrious northern speech patterns.

Take a look at our one bedroom apartment, though only until Monday until we get into our own unit (due to a water leak we have been camping out on the 6th floor with no furniture, except for our trusty air mattress and folding lawn chairs). It causes one to realize how little we need versus how much we own.

Getting settled academically has been the same old struggle with bureaucracy - running

around to pay this here and that there. However, the profs at the Faculty of Education Leadership and Policy are very helpful, as are staff at the International Centre. I may need to change a course, and would like a grad assistantship on campus, but that does not look promising. The downturn in the economy is impacting on the university, as well as it has on the Canadian dollar. Lorne and I have checked out the sports facilities and plan to get exercising tomorrow morning. We access to many pieces of exercise equipment, pools, and numerous classes. Today I snapped a few photos today of some flowers blooming beneath a magnolia tree. On my way to class I walk by rows of rosemary bushes, with their soft purple blooms and fragrant scent. Heaven scent.

Happy New Year 2009!

New Year's eve saw Lorne and I ring in the glad tidings at the Halifax Club with friends. We were having dinner and desserts in the rooms where we were married only two years ago. It was great to be able to share this with Michael and Elizabeth and their colleagues. Enjoying a different wine with each course, followed by dancing until midnight, we were the quinessential yuppies. Lorne definitely needs a tuxedo for next year! The sunglasses on the guys stole the show.

We look forward to the year ahead, with study, travel, and family. On Tuesday morning we are headed for South Carolina, with the expectation to arrive by Thursday. Buying second-hand furntiure for our graduate student apartment will be fun. Who says you can't do it over again?