Alumna Anne de Stecher (PhD/2013) tributes the collaborative nature of the PhD program in Cultural Mediations as providing her with a strong foundation for the workplace.
Today, as a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Université Laval, Quebec, she took a few moments to think about the value of her PhD program, its academic rigour and how it prepared students for future research, teaching and curatorial positions.
Housed in the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture (ICSLAC), Cultural Mediations is an interdisciplinary program designed to advance knowledge and understanding of that body of cultural theory and those cultural practices that inform literary studies, cinema studies and work in music, art history and new media, along with the historical, intellectual and social frames of reference that this work invokes.
De Stecher’s research on Indigenous historical arts required her to draw from a wide range of fields- art history, Indigenous studies, women’s history, archaeology, museum and curatorial studies- which made the Cultural Mediations program a perfect fit for her when choosing which PhD program to pursue.
De Stecher says that she particularly enjoyed the feeling of being part of a larger community. “Our group included faculty and students from a range of departments, making it an exciting place for a rich exchange of ideas and information about sources and approaches- a real breakdown of academic silos in a very open and exciting environment.”
Dr. Ruth Phillips
She continues: “For me, connecting with scholars at ICSLAC and beyond, and working with leading academics such as Prof. Ruth Phillips, took my thinking and writing to new levels.”
De Stecher has taught Carleton courses relating to historical and contemporary Indigenous representation. She also held a Research Fellowship at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation and, as Curator of Inuit Art at the Carleton University Art Gallery, she curated the 2013 exhibition, The Past is Present: Memory and Continuity in the Tyler/Brooks Collection of Inuit Art.
For current PhD students thinking of pursuing a SSHRC Postdoctoral award, de Stecher has the following suggestions: “It is helpful to look at the SSHRC website, where they state the areas of research that are the focus of government interest and where there is a particular need. This can help in framing your Program of Work and the direction of your proposed project. After that, it helps to ask for assistance from scholars in your field to review your Program of Work and application, and then edit, edit, edit.”
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 in Alumni, Convocation, News
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