The Holiday Season… Read!
A ‘Gradhacker’ Gift Guide
“Why are you working over winter break?”
“Wait, when are you going to graduate?”
And, of course, “What do you want for Christmas?”
I may not have much help to offer for navigating the first two conversations, but I’m taking a stab at the third. More...
On Shadowbox(ing) Our Degree Paths
Ever since I was a youngster, no other holiday season has filled me with such giddy anticipation as this time of the year. More...
Teaching Research in the First-Year Writing Classroom in the U.S.
I’ll start with a confession: I have never taken a writing class in my entire life. This is because writing courses are not part of the curriculum in India. More...
Against the Right Wing
In the last month and a half, I woke up in the morning almost every day to receive terrible news arriving from India that ranged from state-sponsored police brutality on students at Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University to passing of a law that specifically targeted minorities. Furthermore, right-wing goons beat up students and faculty mercilessly inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), one of the premier research institutes in India. More...
Career Paths: Returning to Academia From Industry
One of the most common questions my undergraduate students ask me is whether they should pursue a Ph.D. straight out of undergrad or if they should go to work first. As someone who hasn’t left academia aside from internships, I can offer them only a limited experience. More...
The Christians I Know
I’m at a conference of mostly moderate evangelical Christians in the Pacific Northwest, and virtually everybody I have met is doing something that helps humanity and inspires me. More...
How to Be Progressive Without Being Divisive
I’ve been struck that in the middle of America’s polarization vortex, the unifying figures of Dolly Parton and Fred Rogers appear to be everywhere. More...
Ancient and Modern Wisdom of Friendship Across Difference
There are illuminating historical examples of positive interfaith interaction and friendship, and modern research is affirming the power of relationship across lines of difference. More...