Category: Daily updates

Generally musings of the day, usually accompanied by a photograph

Many meetings

Today I had the extremely good fortune to speak for more than an hour with Peter Russell – one of Canada’s leading constitutional experts – about my forthcoming comp.

Tomorrow, I am meeting with Rod Haddow. Wednesday, with Graham White and Peter Loewen.

Because Robarts library is open late, I was able to pick up a book Dr. Russell recommended, and which I should be able to get well into before I go to sleep.

While there is doubtless a lot of stress and some tedium, there are certainly elements of the life of the grad student which are satisfying, and which could not be replicated elsewhere.

2014 Winter Session

With meals beginning again tomorrow, Massey is being rapidly repopulated.

Technically, classes in the 2014 winter session begin tomorrow, so I at least need to check whether any of the courses that I need in order to complete the PhD requirements begin before my comp. Thankfully, I don’t have tutorials to teach until the Thursday after.

Into the final week

Spending weeks on end trying to spend all day preparing for an open-ended examination is wearying, and nearly any task seems welcome by comparison. One advantage of that is how I have spent more time in the gym in the last month than in the year before that – passing an hour a day there first thing upon waking.

Still, there are now only six days before my re-comp and I must do all I can to remain focused on it. I have continued with sketching outlines to probable exam questions, and already lined up two late meetings with faculty members to discuss them.

Even if I succeed in the exam, there is more drudgery ahead. To begin with, I need to complete my PhD coursework, and the requirements are somewhat confusing. I have requested a meeting with the director of graduate studies to try to sort it out. There seems no way of reconciling the set of courses they require PhD students to take with the length of time in which they are meant to be completed. Furthermore, I will have another comprehensive exam to write on public policy, a topic that will be far more challenging for me since I have even less background in it than I do in Canadian politics.

Winter begins

With the end of meal service at Massey College, the place has basically emptied out. I am now finished with all my standard obligations for the fall term, and have only the re-comp looming over me.

I am writing in 20 days. I need to spend as much of the intervening time as possible reading key sources and practicing essay answers.

To wrap up the fall 2013 term

By December 12th or so, I need to write a 15-page critical essay for my environmental politics course, probably on the history and future prospects of Ontario’s nuclear industry. It’s worth 30% of my course grade. More dauntingly, I have a 6,000 to 8,000 word paper to write for my public policy core seminar. It’s meant to be an update of Richard Simeon’s 1976 article “Studying Public Policy” – a general survey of the state of the literature. It’s worth 35% of the course grade.

Beyond that, all I have to do is a bit more grading and administration for the tutorials I am teaching and – of course – a huge amount of work for my Canadian politics re-comp on January 10th.

Scholarship news

There are four stages involved in evaluating Trudeau Scholarship applications. First, the U of T department of political science chooses three to submit to the School of Graduate Studies. The SGS then selects something like eight from the whole school to pass on to the actual Trudeau foundation. The foundation then produces a short list and interviews candidates.

I just learned that my application was rejected at the first stage. It’s definitely frustrating and disappointing to not even have the application passed on. It was also the scholarship I was feeling most hopeful about, since I thought they were more likely to give consideration to activities beyond academic work.

There’s a good chance I will get the Ontario Graduate Scholarship again, but it actually does me no good because the department simply subtracts an equivalent amount of money from your funding package. I am still potentially in the running for funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, but I am less hopeful about that. I don’t think they will care about government experience, and I think they are less likely to see climate activism in a positive light.

This week

  • Monday: Trudeau scholarship application
  • Assigned reading for environmental politics
  • Environmental politics seminar
  • Come up with three questions for discussion in Tuesday’s public policy seminar
  • Tuesday: Assigned reading for public policy
  • Public policy seminar
  • Toronto350.org meeting (likely to be skipped)
  • Wednesday: Meeting with the professor of the course where I am a TA
  • Assigned reading for Canadian politics core seminar
  • Canadian politics seminar
  • Appearing as part of a ‘conscious activism’ panel at Hart House (my last legacy 350 commitment from when I was president)
  • Thursday: Assigned reading for my tutorials
  • Teach three tutorials
  • Friday: Massey lecture
  • Saturday: (hopefully) Moving the last of my boxes into Massey College
  • Monday: Take-home exam for environmental politics due
  • Assigned reading for environmental politics
  • Come up with three questions for discussion in Tuesday’s public policy seminar
  • Tuesday: Essay due for public policy, on “Policy process II – feedback effects”
  • Presentation for public policy, same topic
  • Assigned readings for public policy

It’s understandable – though unfortunate – that I won’t be able to participate in this year’s Massey College zombie game.