Enter the Doctorate

 

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.”

~ Buddha ~

To embark on a Ph.D. in media psychology is ultimately an act of identity making.  For me this intensive five-day program was a time of reawakening.  During these few hours I experienced a confirmation of my aspirations to work in the new territory of psychology and media field.  I was deeply inspired by the professors and my fellow students.  Each professor, for me, was a living example of following one’s dream and living life to the full while serving students, their chosen academic discipline, their art and society.  

Critical Dialogue with Fellow Media Critics 

Conversations with my colleagues in media psychology often mentioned how fortunate we felt to finally be having a group of individuals who were interested in and passionate about having these in depth dialogues about all things media.    

Media to Go

This was also the first time I had ever witnessed a doctoral defense.  To experience Jonathan White at the end of his graduate school journey was an extraordinary learning opportunity.  Not only did the importance of narrative come through his thesis but the level of the academic conversation and points raised in the discussion were highly enlightening.  The idea that through qualitative, idiosyncratic research Jonathan could be evolving a new theory of creativity was simply inspirational and eye opening for me.

Academics, Advisers and Role Models

The brilliance, professional accomplishments, humor and incisive questioning of Garry Hare acted as an invigorating tonic to my thought process.  Whether he was discussing the program, Lewin’s Force Field Analysis or countless other topics, his hard-won pragmatism and ‘one good thing’ philosophy of social activism will continue to be an inspiration. 

Karen Gill’s focus on content analysis was an effective method to demonstrate how a scholar would convert qualitative data into quantifiable information.   Using her current research focus on diet headlines on Women’s World Magazine covers created a meaningful lecture in which her keen mind, expert knowledge, and open teaching style shone through.

Jason Ohler’s digital thought pioneering and vocabulary creation such as terms like ‘squezzal’ left me feeling like I need to read everything he’s written about the digital age. 

Jean-Pierre Isbouts’ lectures on visual paradigms, mini-lecture on electronic file format history, academic writing and music lead me to a place of intellectual wonder and gratefulness that I will be able to experience his guidance as my faculty adviser.

Our group shared an appreciation for the depth of Don Polkinhorne’s research and study design expertise.  It was clear he possesses a broad and deep knowledge in the fields of philosophy, history of science and psychology.
Reawakened Creativity

Wake Up and Smell Your Hidden Talent

This opportunity to study at Fielding for me is a dream reawakened.   Making the PSA film was a watershed moment for me over the coarse of the NSO.   After we made the one-minute PSA film someone in the class said something to the effect, “Whoa, hidden talent.”  

That evening, as I spoke with my wife about the experience she said, “Well of coarse you have a hidden talent.   Don’t you remember before going into your MA in counseling you were seriously thinking about applying to Vancouver Film School?”  Wives are like that.  And no, I had totally forgotten about that dream from a decade ago.  I recall dismissing the very notion because I felt I couldn’t reliably count on a livelihood with such training.  It was a very moving realization for the artist within me, coming from a home of medicine, law, history and reason, art was something to be appreciated but never pursued. 

After my NSO experience, I more fully appreciate that media psychology is the space from which all of my future aspirations can manifest in business, academia and the world-at-large.  Becoming an active and positive contributor to the Fielding community in the study of media psychology field will be an endowment made possible through this program.  

At Fielding Diversity is not just a Word

I write this feeling joy, inspiration and newly invigorated.  It is with a profound sense of gratitude to the founders of Fielding Graduate University and all those devoted individuals that continue to nurture and manifest the scholarly vision of rigor-infused, distributed, self-directed education to whom I bow.   At Fielding NSO we learned there is room for all at the table of higher learning.

Fielding provides one with the privilege and opportunity to join in the scholarly conversation at the cutting edge of technology, education and design.  What more could I have ever hoped for?