September | 2014 | The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)

The University of Georgia College of Education gave me these little promotional gems to take back to Chile, South America.

Sheesh!! I have very little idea what has been going on in the world/life outside of my dissertation lately. I have been frantically trying to meet with my committee chair and research methodologist (mission accomplished on both scores) prior to my departure for Chile de nuevo. I noticed that my blogging has been a little thin for September, but for good reason. I returned to the United States in August and have been trying to update my committee, family, and friends about my experiences abroad. I now look back on this blog and simply cannot believe that this has been my experience for almost two years now.

September saw me at my most productive state, turning out two research manuscripts that I submitted to Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) and the Education, Citizenship, and Social Justice journals. I also had been waiting with great anticipation to learn of my fate in application for a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award. I found out yesterday that my application was not successful this time. There still remains a silver-lining as that particular fellowship provides its applicants with review feedback relative to their proposal submissions. So I am looking forward to reading those results to find out how I can better structure grant/fellowship applications moving forward. I also learned today that the American Education Research Association (AERA) has a Minority Dissertation Fellowship Program in Education Research. Those funds, among other things, allow doctoral candidates support in the writing of their dissertation. I am definitely going after that fellowship. One of the things that I am learning in this scholarly journey is that submitting for these grants helps you to not only become a more concise writer, it provides scaffolding for other potential research proposal. So, I’ve gotten over my recent rejection (took a few hours) and am moving forward. That is largely because I just LOVE my research/dissertation topic!! I really believe I have a real opportunity to make a substantive contribution to my field on matters of civic engagement, social justice, adult learning and development, as well as, international adult education. Thank you Chile! 🙂

So, as I prepare to place my things in storage, ride my motorcycle as much as possible before October 1st, it’s generally been a good season for me. I miss my friends and Chilean family (especially my office mates and Zumba sisters). ❤ I will return to Chile until the new year and I am hard pressed to get folks to take my survey. I’ve collected and analyzed my qualitative data (I’m doing a mixed methods study) and am going to be pounding the pavement in the northern Chile region to get my surveys completed. I wish I could transfer my excitement to would-be volunteers so that they would flock to completing my survey. Alas, I am learning that academic research takes tenacity, diplomacy, and a LOT of patience. Mine continues to grow everyday. Thanks for reading! 🙂 I leave you with some recent pics from my doings in Athens, Georgia over the last few months.

Got to catch-up with friends and faculty in our department’s graduate student organization University of Georgia Lifelong Learning Association (UGALLA)

Had the opportunity to share with incoming doctoral students my experiences as a student in the Adult Education Learning and Organization Development (AELOD) program at UGA. As you can see, we enjoy acronyms. It’s hard to believe that I was sitting in their position a seemly short four years ago. Our graduate student organization UGALLA has been a great support to me during my years at UGA. I will always try to be there to support its activities whenever possible. There was an exciting group of news students there as well as our awesome departmental faculty (as per usual). 🙂

What time is it Hondura?

As I mentioned earlier I have a motorcycle (Honda Rebel 250) and I nicknamed her “Hondura”. I sometimes I leave campus in the evenings and am not always sure what time it is when I’m riding. So I decided to get this little digital clock that sticks to my bike via Velcro. Thanks 3M, that invention is one of the best of the twentieth century. Ha ha 😛

My friend Josh repaired my bike when I was out of the country. He's an awesome "Bike Whisperer"

My friend Josh repaired my bike when I was out of the country in Chile (and Canada). He’s an awesome “Bike Whisperer”.

This is a better view of my bike. I had the engine rebuild and the transmission redone. My brother told me I should just junk it and buy a new bike, but NO!! This is my first motorcycle and I’m keeping Hondura forever!

I forgot to mention my bug bites in Chile.

So it seems the Chilean mosquitoes really like me because I kept getting bitten in the face at night. You can’t tell as well in this picture, but I have like a third (red) eye in the middle of my forehead. Thanks to Mary Kay I can cover it in this picture. Nevertheless, its been a little swollen since I left Chile in August and my doctors put me on an antibiotic for 3 weeks to see if we can get it to go away. So prayers for my recovery are welcomed, I’ve already anointed and laid-hands on my forehead so I’m not going to get too worried about it. But we are definitely taking the industrial strength deed-laced “OFF” back to Chile this time . I will be giving myself a bug-stray facial every night. Ha ha. ~ ¡Chau chau chicos!

Time to Degree of U.S. Research Doctorate Recipients – nsf06312.pdf.

I thought this (click on above PDF link) was a very insightful information article–in light of academic capitalism themes–related to pressuring adult learners to get in and out with their degrees as quickly as possible. In essence, the mantra of “Obtain your credential and get to work!!” is always looming in the air for graduate level students. However, why are we looking to pursue “terminal” degrees in the first place? What is our civic and social obligation, as future highly educated individuals, to speak to the existential problems of everyday people (life)? According to the statistics in this article I would most certainly be considered an “outlier” based upon age as I returned to graduate school after having raised a daughter and proudly watched her graduate through law school. It was then “mommy time”! I sit as an example of what I believe to be true adult education and lifelong learning (as I am closing in on the completion of my PhD credential having entered candidacy last summer).

I welcome the new month of September being excited that I am near the end of my doctoral journey and motivated by the thoughts of what I plan to do as a scholar/practitioner in the area of Adult Education Learning and Organization Development (AELOD). I spent all of August working with my dissertation research data, preparing for my October return to Chile, and pumping out two manuscripts which I hope to submit for publication in the next few weeks. My academic program is under the auspices of the department of Lifelong Learning Administration and Policy (LEAP) at the University of Georgia and I personally have come to view adult learning as never-ending. There are so many ways adults continue to learn formally, informally, and non-formally (AE folks will know these subtle distinctions). Most of us maturing adults have come to realize that adults learn differently from children and adolescents; but typically we don’t give it much attention because in large part most academic educational research (especially in the areas of outreach and community engagement) is more attentive to early childhood and undergraduate learners. I hope to make a big contribution toward changing that aspect of educational research and highlight the developmental nature of adult learning that in my field has been somewhat neglected. Understanding the adult learner of the twenty-first century must be interdisciplinary in scope, accounting for the complexities that surround the realities of what are now arguably “digital natives” among adult learner groups. Adult education, in order to remain relevant, must also be engaged in scholarship that speaks to the cognitive aspect of learning with appreciation for the multiple domains of knowing (e.g., spiritual, cultural) people bring in creative ways to the space of knowledge generation.

In summary, I want to be able to speak to the most pressing social issues of today, in a timely way, through my scholarhship. At the same time, I want to be able to teach (and encourage) my parents for example, to use Skype and cellular phones so as to remain in communication with their adult children spread about the international world. I want to see my siblings and friends stay attentive to health and fitness themes by taking a Zumba class or maybe step aerobics at a local “Y”. There is so much to learn because adult learning truly is a open-ended never ending quests (Graves, 1970, 1974, 2005, 2009) and I am excited to be a passenger (and as the need may be conductor) on that journey. 🙂

I actually started out just planning to post this PDF (as a press this item) after waking up unusually early. I guess this is now my new nature as an emergent scholar which is that sleepless or unexpected early risings will now result in writing muses. Ha ha! Nonetheless, my apologies for the OSU image of a cap and gown, but it was the best one I could find on the internet to go with this blog post this early morning. Plus, I am originally from Ohio, and the image does also represent my UGA black and red colors. Therefore, I have achieved the elusive win, win, and win with this post. Deal with it! 😉

Graves, C. W. (1970). Levels of existence: An open system theory of values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 10(2), 131-155.
Graves, C. W. (1974). Human nature prepares for a momentous leap. The Futurist, 8(2), 72-87.
Graves, C.W. (2005). The never ending quest. In C. Cowan & N. Todorovic (Eds.). Santa Barbara, CA: ECLET Publishing.
Graves, C.W. (2009). Clare W. Graves: Levels of human existence. In W.R. Lee, C.C. Cowan, & N. Todorovic (Eds.). Santa, Barbara, CA: ECLET Publishing.

The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Monthly Archives: September 2014

Prepping for my return to Chile: Where did September go?

Time to Degree of U.S. Research Doctorate Recipients