I just returned from a week long seminar at Fielding Graduate University. It was my first “Winter Session” and it was jam packed with seminars, meetings, and experiences. I had an opportunity to meet students who are in all stages of their doctoral program, including some alums.

 

Highlights:

• The seminars were all very interesting, giving me tapas-sized tastes of deeper topics of interest. I attended the following:
  • Systems and communities
  • Human development
  • Library research fundamentals
  • Interpretive phenomenology
  • Exploring the enneagram
  • Fostering creativity
• Final Oral Reviews (FOR’s) – I attended four of these presentations by graduating students. This was their opportunity to present their research and defend their dissertation. Each of the four was very different, the quality and level of competency and depth also varied. The one that impressed me the most was given by a woman, Darcy Fay, who has lived and worked around the world to provide aid in third world countries. Her thesis, Integral Consciousness and Intercultural Competency: Gebser, Husserl and the Task of Our Time was masterful and inspiring.
• One-on-one meetings with faculty – I set appointments with the faculty with whom I intend to work. The dialogs were great and I have some tentative agreements on which knowledge areas (KA) I will work on with each professor. At Fielding, all study is through established individual contracts between students and faculty assessors. I now have a clear picture of my next three knowledge areas and with whom I will work.

• My roommate Luann. She and I are in the same anchor team and have now taken three KA’s together. We review and critique each other’s writing and give each other moral support. We were roommates this past week to save money (remember, I’m a student now….) and this allowed us to have some wonderful and deep conversations. Our room at the Fess Parker Doubletree faced the ocean, an added bonus.
• The many conversations with other students on so many topics. What an interesting and diverse group of people!
• Graduation – I stayed for part of the graduation ceremony before driving home. It was inspirational and touching. Families and friends had flown in from all parts of the world to attend and honor the graduates. I am now visualizing myself walking up the aisle and standing on the podium to receive my hood in 2012.