A letter to PhD Project

Bernie,

I wanted to wait until I got somewhere, where uninterrupted I could tell you this--if not for the Phd project none of what I have accomplished as part of the academy would be possible. No one in my family, community, or world had a Ph.D. There was no framework for me to even think about what such a degree could mean for me, my family and the greater community. Heck, I thought I was doing quite nicely making 150K plus bonus and stock options. Considering that only 160K Black Americans in the entire country make more then 250K I was doing quite well thank you.

But, the Phd project gave me the opportunity to see I could do well in another way. I could do well and do good. I could have a decent income and gather a whole different set of riches. I have the admiration and respect of friends and colleagues. People who have been unselfish with their time to help develop an idea for a paper. Students who have told me that being there has made a difference in their lives. Black students who want to be like me and White students who have been touched by the fact that someone who looks like me has accomplished what I have and challenges their paradigms of the world.

And my family, Bernie I wish I could tell you directly, while making big money I missed birthdays and so much; now I coach my daughters soccer team, I have been chairman of the PTO and my son looks to me as his role model. By having a professors schedule my wife had the oportunity to fully pursue her career and we are both much better off. And I get to be "doctor D" to my larger family. The pride I hear from them is priceless.

So with words that have so much more behind them then can fit in this two-dimensional space I want to say THANK YOU, TARA and the rest of the Ph.D project for all that you have done and continue to do for me and those like me.

Forever grateful,

Miles

The contrasts between corporate life and an academic career were drawn starkly for former business consulting executive Miles Davis, now a professor at Shenandoah University, in recent months. Watching his friends and former colleagues endure the stress of a chilly economy, he realized, "I have a multi-year contract, which I never had before.

I spent my summer with my kids; my friends spent theirs worrying about having a job. I'm the president of the parent teacher organization at my son's school. I have time to balance my life. The quality of life, the stress levels, are very different for me now."

The recipient of a Teacher of the Year award, Dr. Davis becomes engaged in his students' lives. One woman was consumed with anxiety over what she should do upon graduation. "I took her through the same process I use in organizational strategy for companies, and I applied it to her career: what is your mission statement, what are your objectives. She got a sense of what she wanted to accomplish for herself." The student decided to pursue an MBA and was accepted. "Then, she invited me to her wedding. The fact that a student would invite me to her wedding was just incredible to me."

White students at his rural campus often approach Dr. Davis for guidance: "They believe I can identify with their issues - those of poverty, and being a first generation college student. So they feel comfortable in talking to me - about things like not having the money for school"

"I can't imagine anything better than getting paid for what I love to do - to develop my ideas and share them," says Dr. Davis. "To be an African-American in this role on top of that is just incredible."

If you are a PhD Project participant and would like to share your story, send e-mail.