Life After My Project – Amber Theinert
Is there life after working on a project and graduating with a Masters degree from OU? But of course! If not, then there would be absolutely no reason to be here.
While we as a class will take very different paths after our graduation, some off to get the coveted Doctoral and some (including myself) hope that this final project will land us the job of our dreams, or at least on that path to said job.
I find myself in very different circumstances then most graduate students. I’m a working professional, going to school part-time while holding down a full-time job as the Event Manager at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in downtown Oklahoma City. I’ve got two beautiful children (one born during the summer between my 1st and 2nd year of grad school) that always want my nose out of the books and paying more attention to them. I’ve come back to school so I can not only better my own life, but insure that my family is always taken care of.
So what is my life after school? I imagine it won’t be much different then now, other than a lot less stress. I will continue working full-time, although I hope to change my career field and work in sports administration (more specifically, sports public relations). I find this field so intriguing, and an area that I feel I can really make an impact in as a woman. I’d like to work in the collegiate athletic atmosphere, but with the Sonics franchise moving to Oklahoma City I feel like a really wonderful opportunity is presenting itself to me. I just have to keep my ears open for the job postings.
My ultimate goal from the beginning was two-fold; (1) get a Masters degree that will get me a great job I love; and (2) get said degree before my own children start school. After 2 years in the program and looking forward to the last year, I truly believe now that the goal is achievable.
Will I contribute to the overall body of knowledge? I guess. Will my project make radical changes in the world of sports public relations? Probably not. Will I ensure that I have a solid project that will be impressive to any employer? Absolutely. And as long as that great job can pay me enough to afford these crazy gas prices, I will be very happy!
Showing posts with label Amber Theinert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amber Theinert. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Contributing to the Body of Knowledge
Contributing to the Body of Knowledge
When conducting research during undergraduate course work, there is no need to really think about the field as a whole, you pick a topic, conduct minor research and put together a paper of 5-7 pages. Starting out in graduate school, I was quite surprised on day one to hear that my first paper would be between 20-25 pages. The research was so different, and I realized quickly that my undergraduate studies had done little to help me think on a theoretical level.
Soon after starting graduate school, I began hearing this term “body of knowledge” being thrown around. I realize now that the body of knowledge is the world around us, what the past and present researchers have studied and that this body has natural holes within it where new researchers (or graduate students) can find their niche within it.
Journalism and mass communications is in a unique situation compared to other fields. The field is still young (in comparison to other fields) and there is much spill over from other bodies of knowledge that relates to out field. For example, for my professional project I must look into areas such as human resources, job recruitment and gender roles in order to develop a sufficient literature review to work from.
The body of knowledge is important because of the starting place it provides the future researchers. It also points towards new areas of study, giving even more potential areas for those unsure of what they wish to study. The body of knowledge is by no means complete, and never will be as journalism and mass communication is an ever evolving field.
I plan to conduct my professional project on the subject of recruiting more women into the field of sports information directing within higher education institutes. I feel this will connect me to a very large gap in the current body of knowledge, seeing as there is little existing research in the field of sports information directing. I find it interesting that so many female public relations students express interest in working in the sports information directing industry, but the current research shows that very few women are within the field.
Finding these sorts of holes is key when conducting research which you wish to use as a contribution to the body of knowledge for any subject. Our field is lucky because the body of knowledge is continuously growing into new areas, continuously adding new gaps that require study and rapidly changing with the technology. It is unfortunate that this idea of contributing to the greater good of the journalism and mass communication field is not introduced to undergraduate students more often. I believe that all higher education students should be introduced to this idea much sooner, and should begin understanding that what they choose to research can be a contribution to the greater body of knowledge for the entire field.
When conducting research during undergraduate course work, there is no need to really think about the field as a whole, you pick a topic, conduct minor research and put together a paper of 5-7 pages. Starting out in graduate school, I was quite surprised on day one to hear that my first paper would be between 20-25 pages. The research was so different, and I realized quickly that my undergraduate studies had done little to help me think on a theoretical level.
Soon after starting graduate school, I began hearing this term “body of knowledge” being thrown around. I realize now that the body of knowledge is the world around us, what the past and present researchers have studied and that this body has natural holes within it where new researchers (or graduate students) can find their niche within it.
Journalism and mass communications is in a unique situation compared to other fields. The field is still young (in comparison to other fields) and there is much spill over from other bodies of knowledge that relates to out field. For example, for my professional project I must look into areas such as human resources, job recruitment and gender roles in order to develop a sufficient literature review to work from.
The body of knowledge is important because of the starting place it provides the future researchers. It also points towards new areas of study, giving even more potential areas for those unsure of what they wish to study. The body of knowledge is by no means complete, and never will be as journalism and mass communication is an ever evolving field.
I plan to conduct my professional project on the subject of recruiting more women into the field of sports information directing within higher education institutes. I feel this will connect me to a very large gap in the current body of knowledge, seeing as there is little existing research in the field of sports information directing. I find it interesting that so many female public relations students express interest in working in the sports information directing industry, but the current research shows that very few women are within the field.
Finding these sorts of holes is key when conducting research which you wish to use as a contribution to the body of knowledge for any subject. Our field is lucky because the body of knowledge is continuously growing into new areas, continuously adding new gaps that require study and rapidly changing with the technology. It is unfortunate that this idea of contributing to the greater good of the journalism and mass communication field is not introduced to undergraduate students more often. I believe that all higher education students should be introduced to this idea much sooner, and should begin understanding that what they choose to research can be a contribution to the greater body of knowledge for the entire field.
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