Staying Embedded in University Life on Your Terms with Dana Hayward

You’ve embarked on an Ivy Plus Exchange program to do archival research in Portland, Oregon in your fifth year as a Sociology PhD Candidate. Covid hits, the archives close, what are you going to do? In this episode, we hear Dana’s story about finding a place within university life after more than a decade of trials, tribulations, and ultimately, successes with her “pivoted” dissertation project. We learn that time wasn’t wasted time, but instead a pause that allowed Dana to reflect on what about universities she loved and wanted to keep, and what she wanted to let go. If you’re curious about what I like to call “academic-adjacent” roles within the university, or roles that directly connect to and work with university scholars and teachers, this episode is for you.