Invitational Masters Student Institute, October 16-18, 2009

The Invitational Masters Student Institute held at Rutgers University is designed for students in (or recent graduates of) Masters of Communication / Media Studies programs who are seriously considering going on for their Ph.D. in Communication or Media Studies. IMSI will select 25 students for the fall 2008 Institute.

IMSI will:
… Pay for most travel expenses of participants (hotel, most meals, and up to $250 travel stipend)
… Provide 2 days of specialized programs by Rutgers Communication and Media Studies faculty focusing on leveraging current knowledge and skills into successful Ph.D. experiences.
… Help think through career options with a Ph.D. in Communication/ Media Studies
… Provide faculty feedback on a current or future scholarly project
… Provide a fun social atmosphere for M.A./M.S. and Ph.D. students as well as the Rutgers faculty

Areas of potential focus for IMSI 2009 include:
… Health Communication
… Interpersonal Communication
… Organizational Communication
… Language & Social Interaction
… Persuasion
… New Media & Technology
… Media Policy & Institutions
… Media and Cultural Studies
… Media and Politics

Institute Content
Discussion of Current Trends in Research
Faculty will work in small groups with Institute participants to discuss the current trends in research and to talk about future directions in the fields of communication and media studies. The program will be geared towards interests of this year’s participants.

Scholarly Project Development Workshops
Participants will be invited to discuss their own scholarly projects (current or contemplated). Small groups of faculty and student participants will discuss the projects, make suggestions, offer ideas, and answer questions.  The goal of these sessions is to provide students varied perspectives on their ideas and useful feedback to move good ideas along.

Methods Workshops
Faculty will provide short workshops on specific methods for collecting and analyzing data.

Doctoral Work and Careers with a Ph.D.
Faculty and current doctoral students participate in round-table discussions about career choices in pursing doctoral work and beyond.

Socializing / Networking
Our group will be small to allow for a high quality interaction. We will host participants for a Friday reception and Saturday lunch and dinner at a local restaurant. On Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon there will be opportunities for excursions into New York City. Some of the local graduate students and faculty will serve as guides for these trips.

Applications due June 29
To apply go to: www.scils.rutgers.edu/ci/imsi/

Contact: Laurie K. Lewis, Assoc. Professor, Communication Department, Rutgers University
Phone: 732-932-7500 x 8141            Email: lewisl@rutgers.edu

Call for Papers — Exploring Childhood Studies, A Graduate Student Conferenc

Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University, Camden

The graduate students of the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden invite submissions for papers and poster presentations for their first formal graduate student conference on April 9, 2010. Graduate students from all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to children and childhood are encouraged to submit proposals.

The field of childhood studies engages in both theoretical and empirical study of children and childhood within historical, contemporary, interdisciplinary, multi-cultural, state, national, and global contexts. Each combination of perspectives provides new insights into the lives of children and the families, cultures, and societies in which they are embedded. The interdisciplinary nature of the field is one of its greatest strengths and the core of its remarkable potential for scholarly advancement, but also leaves the field open for exploration and interrogation, and its borders difficult, if not impossible, to define.

The Exploring Childhood Studies conference proposes defining Childhood Studies by “doing” childhood studies; the conference will explore the field by offering explorations within it. We seek papers from all disciplines that keep childhood as a construct, children as a category, or the child as a real living human as their central focus, providing critical thought and insight while locating them in different contexts, fields, and ideologies.

In keeping with what we believe is the essential interdisciplinary nature of Childhood Studies, this conference seeks to be interdisciplinary itself. We seek proposals from all disciplines–education, literature, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, political science, history, criminology, philosophy, medicine, religion, film studies, and cultural studies–as well as interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary scholarly work.

The range of open topics within this field is as broad as the contexts of the experiences of children and childhood: war, health, rights, gender, poverty, wealth, policy, ethics, popular culture, globalization, school, family, home, sexuality, community, and representations in all modes of fiction. The field of Childhood Studies itself is open to interrogation.

Selected papers will be grouped into panels that may be based around discipline, theme, or perspective, but will demonstrate the common grounding of the papers in their mutual exploration of children and childhood studies.

Paper presentations should be limited to 20 minutes in length. Please send 250-word abstract for paper or poster presentation (specify which) and cover letter with name, current level of graduate study, affiliated university, and email address to m_modica@vfcc.edu. Include the words “conference abstract” in subject line, and include name on the cover letter only.

For further information about The Exploring Childhood Studies conference, contact: Patrick Cox at ptcox@camden.rutgers.edu or Anandini Dar at anandini@camden.rutgers.edu.

Deadline for submission is October 31, 2009. Accepted presenters will receive email notification by January 10, 2010.

Home to the Department of Childhood Studies and The Center for Children and Childhood Studies, Rutgers-Camden is a leader in the national and international discourse on the state of children and childhood. We are very proud of the fact that Rutgers-Camden is the first and only PhD-granting Department of Childhood Studies in the nation, which has now entered its third year. We look forward to introducing the larger academic community to our fellow students, exemplary faculty and unique program, and to engaging in vigorous and stimulating discussions with our peers throughout academia.

Visit the Department of Childhood Studies here: http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/

Patrick Cox
PhD Student
Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University
http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”
–Albert Camus

“Don’t let your studies interfere with your education.”
–Colonel Henry Rutgers

“the jUdges of nOrmalitY are present everywhere.”
–Foucault, of course
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http://lists.comm.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/cultstud-l

Preparing for Comprehensive Exams

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/05/2009051501c.htm

This article, from the Chronicle for Higher Education, is geared mostly for PhD candidates preparing for oral exams.  However, much of what is suggests is good advice for MA candidates preparing for written comprehensive exams as well.  For example:

Your first task is to clarify what your exam will be about. As far in
advance as possible, talk with students, faculty members, and advisers
to answer some basic questions: What will be the structure of your
exam? How much material will it cover? Will the exam focus on knowledge
of your chosen fields, your proposed research, or both? more…