Surviving Graduate School: A Foodie's Memoir Part 6

Guadalajara mini pecan pies, recipe below

The majority of graduate school students I met experienced the same semi-starvation existence that I went through. That is especially the case with those of us who were working toward doctorate degrees because in most disciplines getting a Ph.D. is a long and grinding five to seven year marathon, at least in the social sciences. That was the case for me and my colleagues in the history department in the Maxwell School and for other Ph.D. students in professional schools across the campus at Syracuse University. It was also the case among graduate students I met at conferences and out doing field work. Presenting a paper at conference held out the benefit of eating well for the two to three days that a conference lasted. The deal at most universities is if you present a paper on a panel at academic conference, your institution will cover your fees: conference fees, travel and lodging, and provide a food per diem. We would get something like $7 for breakfast, $12 for lunch, and $20 for dinner. The same is true when you are out doing field work like collecting oral histories or digging for documents in places like the National Archives or the Library of Congress. The situation is the same once you become a tenure track professor, your institution will pay for your food when you are conducting research or presenting a paper at a conference. It’s not as easy as it sounds because you have to do original research and then write in most instances (in my field—history for example) a twenty to thirty double spaced paper that makes a contribution to your field of study. At top conferences, like the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, about 85% of all paper and panel submissions are rejected! So if you get your paper accepted you’re guaranteed to eat well for a couple of days. In short, in grad school my colleagues and I worked for food. The first time I presented at a conference was in 1997 Guadalajara, Mexico at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association. This is a city I know well because it’s where I lived while taking a Spanish language immersion program and while studying for my comprehensive exams thereafter. Here a link to a post I did on my favorite sweets to eat in downtown Guadalajara.

Guadalajara mini pecan pies: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2010/10/hispanic-history-month-and-foodways_03.html