I thought I was out of the woods. Really, I did.
I had some very productive meetings with Dr. Hall and faculty in graphic design and children's literature. After the meetings and a flurry of emails, I thought I'd be ready to draft the proposal and send it in. Now I'm having second thoughts.
Two things happened this week which have made me doubt whether I should even attempt this project. With spring break here, I don't have time to meet with anyone else or do any more arm-twisting. So I guess I'd like to hear advice from you guys if you have any.
Wednesday I found out that my adviser will be leaving the school next year. This is a major setback for me. I only know one of the other creative writing faculty -- a poet -- and she doesn't seem to feel comfortable serving as my adviser. If I want to do this project, I'll need to find someone who'll help me, and besides her, there are only three other creative writing professors, two I'd never met before and the other, another poet, I know is not interested in serving as my adviser either.
On Wednesday, I met with another creative writing professor (I'd never met this person before). This person told me that s/he had no background in children's literature and would not feel comfortable advising me, going on to say that "none of the members of the creative writing committee know much about children's literature, and we're not sure we'd feel comfortable evaluating such a work."
"You can still propose it," the professor said. "You can propose anything, but there's certainly no guarantee that we'll accept it. It's just like if someone submitted a script. We don't have any script-writers on the committee, so something like that would have to be submitted to Theater or Film. Perhaps you can submit your project to the English Department -- I know there are some people who teach children's literature there."
Which is all well and good, except Departmental Honors won't let you do a project outside of your major. I haven't checked with English yet, but I have a feeling they won't "fee comfortable evaluating such a work" either.
"Your situation's obviously not ideal," this professor said, "but unfortunately you are in an institution and you have to work within that institution's guidelines."
I felt very discouraged after this conversation. I had received no support whatsoever, and had basically been told to change my project to suit the needs of "the institution" or else take my concerns elsewhere. I'm willing to work with the institution, but shouldn't the institution be willing to work with me? How different really is children's literature? It's still writing! And would it be impossible to collaborate with other departments, perhaps get some people from art and children's lit on board? Why does everything have to be so rigid? I'm not sure I like being "institutionalized" and put in an academic straight jacket.
I know this is only one professor and that s/he doesn't control the committee. But I felt a lot less hopeful about my prospects. Plus I'm running out of people to ask. There's only one faculty member I haven't spoken to and I don't know this person at all. On top of that, I haven't been able to get a hold of my old adviser (although I've been trying very hard) and I really need to get working on my proposal -- and with spring break here, it'll be getting dangerously close to the proposal deadline before I get to meet with anyone from creative writing who might help me draft it.
So this whole thing has brought up an important question. If, as a student, I really am "institutionalized," should I even try to fight this hard? Am I being unreasonable? Maybe they're right. Maybe part of being at school is following the rules. I thought that some of the freedom of Honors was being able to depart from the rules. But maybe I'm being difficult. I don't want my project just to get rejected and not get the chance to do any project at all.
What are your thoughts?
I think that you're right, that part of being in honors is being able to break the mold. The point of doing an honors project is to conduct work within you field while still in college, as opposed to after you graduate like most people.
ReplyDeleteThe honors website says this:
"Departmental Honors programs offer students the opportunity to do an independent research, critical, or creative project on a topic of the student's choice and directed by a professor of the student's choice. These projects are normally done in the senior year, although they may be begun earlier, and normally carry at least 6 credits of independent study over two semesters.The range of possible projects is virtually unlimited. Honors students have conducted laboratory experiments. They have written critical and research papers in literature and the social sciences. They have composed and performed musical works, produced videos, and researched and devised pedagogy for elementary and secondary education."
This description implies that you can do anything you want. I don't see why there is such conflict with you doing a project on children's literature. You may have said this in class, but I'm assuming that writing children's books is something you want to pursue further once you graduate? I think that it would be such a great experience for you to start now. And so far you have been so willing to compromise with the college on this, so they should do the same for you. It makes me wonder how often this happens. How many times do students have great ideas for projects, but they get turned down by advisors and because of these rigid guidelines? RIC is always trying to get more students envolved in the honors program, especially doing honors projects. But then they turn around and don't want to be accommodating to students.
My advice to you is not to give up on this. I think it's such a great idea for a project. Yes Dr. Hall is the director of honors but it's my understanding that there is an Honors Committee that is above him. If none of your other options work, is there a way that you could petition them to bend the guidelines for you this time around? Or talk with the department chair rather than the professors in creative writing? Or even go above that to the dean of academic affairs? (I don't know if that's going too far or not but it's an option)
Another idea that's kind of out there would be to seek out RIC alumni that work in the field of children's literature and have them sit on the board for this?
Try not to get discouraged. There has to be some way to make this work. I wish I knew someone in that department so I could suggest someone else to talk to, but I pretty much don't know anyone at all outside of bio/nursing. Maybe Dr. Cook will have some further input on what to do next?
Don't give up without a fight Gabe. I'm personally really looking forward to reading your book someday, and I think the rest of our class would agree with me on that. Keep us updated. :)
Thanks for your support. I'm sorry if this sounded a bit rant-y, but I needed to air my thoughts somewhere, and I'm grateful you took the time to read and encourage me. You're right, I can't give up now. I can still do this, I'm just gonna have to be tenacious.
DeleteDr. Hall is actually completely behind me, but unfortunately, the Creative Writing Committee is independent of English, and so he's not on it. I think I can still force it through the committee if I present a strong case and if Dr. Hall puts some pressure on them, but it just bothered me that this professor I met with was so unsupportive. My main problem now is finding an adviser who'll actually have me. The ones who are left don't seem interested (there are only 4 who will be here next year). But I have actually considered going to the dean at some point if I hit a stalemate.
I'm hoping I can talk to Dr. Cook or my old adviser after the break, but they haven't responded to my emails this last week, so I'm assuming they're away. Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.
I should have asked this too, do you know the topic of the book you want to write?
ReplyDeleteAs for topics, I have too many, and I was hoping I could talk them over with my adviser, but it may be a while now. I'm doing a lot of research now and I'm hoping that will narrow them down. I'm hoping to have a blog post up fairly soon to share the directions I want to go in, but I'm still in the idea-gathering phase. I'll be looking forward to everyone's ideas when I post it!
DeleteI want to give a big "what the f*$k" gesture with my anger and frustration with what is happening with your project. But, I must be civil and constructive.
ReplyDeleteDo you have anybody who's got your back right now? I know that Prof. Cook fought for you a bit. What about your advisor? How long will they be gone for? A year? Less? You might still be able to work with them through the web, if they go bye-bye.
Sigh. I don't know how the bureaucracy works.
I am not sure if you met with this guy, or not, but he was helpful to me. He is in writing. But I am not sure if he will help, or if you've already met with him.
Michael Michaud
Assistant Professor
English Department
Craig-Lee Hall (CL) 362
(401) 456-8661
(401) 456-8028
mmichaud@ric.edu
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I think Kate has also given a bunch of fantastic advice. Maybe you and I could meet in person and discuss your problems over break and try to figure a way around (or through) them. I have a hard time brainstorming about this stuff over the web.
My e-mail is this: tdumais3@gmail.com
Keep fighting friend. I want you to pull through.
Thanks, Travis. You guys are great. In terms of allies I actually have many:
Delete-All of you
-Dr. Cook
-Dr. Hall
-Emily Danforth (my adviser, who will be leaving)
-Professor Abbotson, who teaches children's literature has given me a lot of useful resources
-Professor Kim from graphic design showed me how I would actually put the book together
-Bill Martin, Head of the Art Department is really supportive and is willing to substitute some of my art requirements for Independent Study with art teachers to oversee the illustration side of this project
But as of next year, none of these people will be in Creative Writing. Which is unfortunate, because I have to have an adviser from that department and most of them seem leery of my project. I suppose it's worth asking whether they'd let me take an adviser from plain old English (perhaps someone like Susan Abbotson), but I don't know if anyone would be okay with that. If all else fails, perhaps I could do advising over correspondence with Emily, but obviously that's not ideal.
I've heard great things about Professor Michaud, so maybe it'd be good to talk to him. He's in Writing, not in Creative Writing, but maybe he'd have some pointers.
Thanks for your support and advice, Travis, it means a lot. There has to be a solution, right? I'm down for meeting over break, but maybe it'd be easier and more productive to meet after we start up again. Most of the professors aren't around and I'll have to talk to a lot of them. It's up to you.
I think you should try to see about getting an advisor outside of your major since it sounds like you would have several options if the honors committee would allow that. I'm also all for holding class without Dr. Cook the week we get back depending what everyone else wants to do?!
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