In which I attempt to divide my life into two parts for a year (a meandering post).

Ten and a half years ago, I walked away from a PhD program in English Literature at the University of Maryland, with about a quarter of my dissertation written. (There were myriad reasons governing my choice — and so many of them make little sense now in hindsight. But here we are.)

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but because I had a little bit of experience advising students (and a lot of luck), I ended up landing comfortably in a position as an Academic Advisor in the Computer Science Department at the same university. For the next decade, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the cleverest and hardest working students during my time as an advisor, and I learned the value of thinking computationally, coding efficiently and well, and designing systems smartly and securely. I have witnessed the CS program at UMD become more diverse as the numbers of women and under-represented minorities in the major have risen. I have also seen how Computer Science can change the lives of students — particularly those who are first generation college students who have watched their families struggle economically. The CS major opens doors, and for the time being, provides a type of security that is unimaginable in many other fields.

As the CS program at UMD grew and changed, so did I. I learned how to administer an academic program, pay attention to trends, and to listen closely to students. I read some papers on Human Computer Interaction, Networking and Systems, I helped edit other papers, and I tried to be a good citizen in an academic community that was never really my own. Perhaps it could have been in another life. Who knows?

In mid 2015, I stepped down from my position as Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, and moved into a position that allowed me to learn something new. I now work on the Communications staff of the same department and I’m able to share with the world what the Computer Science Department at UMD does — through its research, teaching, and other activities.

But that job is only half of my working life now.

About six months ago, I decided that I wanted to return to my PhD program and finish the dissertation that I thought I had set down for good in 2005. I feel rusty and a little inarticulate, but happy.

There have been a few folks who have questioned the value of my going back to finish a PhD in a field that seems to many others to be less prestigious (what does that even mean?) than computing. I don’t like to think about it that way at all. Whatever I study has value because it has value to me. What we all study has value. I refuse to live in a world of either/or. I refuse to accept that one particular field of study takes precedence over another. I will continue to support the mission of the department in which I work, because I believe that what the scientists in that field do is important and necessary; however, I will also support my own mission of finishing my dissertation, and emphasizing the importance of studying the humanities — specifically Early Modern English Literature.

I’m sure I will make statements that are much less diplomatic about valuing everyone in academia as time goes on.

I hope that I am able to post regularly as a way to find my academic writing voice again, and as a way to demonstrate my excitement for things that are steeped in the history, language, and culture of a time and a place that is pretty remote to me.