Posted by: leeerickson on: May 6, 2011
How do you know spring has arrived? In most places the trees start to bud, flowers start to pop up, the weather warms, and the days get longer. Well here in Happy Valley (a.k.a. State College) we have our own unique way of recognizing the arrival of spring. Here are the top 10 ways you [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: April 20, 2011
After 2 years of PhD classes, research, writing, and reading of academic literature I’ve finally become used to the thick descriptions, multi-syllabic words, and long, long, run-on, very complex sentence structure sentences (as this sentence would illustrate). Coming from business and writing for the web, academic writing was the antithesis of what I was used [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: June 20, 2010
Just finished my first year as a PhD student at Penn State. Being a student is quite a different lifestyle than running a business. In some ways more hectic, but in many less so because I can focus mostly on my studies. So with one year down (and at least 2 to go) here are [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: December 15, 2009
It’s the end of the semester. I’ve got one term paper left then I’m done. As I write, edit, rewrite, reedit and rewrite again a scene from A Christmas Story keeps popping into my head. I’m sure you remember when Ralphie was writing his essay for class? As he writes, he imagines his teacher reading [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: September 2, 2009
I’m what they consider a “non-traditional” student here at Penn State. Basically that means I’m coming into the PhD program having taken a 20+ year detour into the business world. So I guess the non-traditional part is the “real-life” experience I bring to the table (because I don’t really want it to just mean I’m [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: August 11, 2009
Holy academic turmoil, Batman. What’s all this I’m hearing about the state of education today? Some say students don’t care. Professors, researchers, parents, and even the kids themselves say students today just don’t care. They’re not interested in education. They would rather be Facebooking, IMing, or otherwise engaged even during class. Check out this video [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: July 21, 2009
Got a chuckle the other day as I got a letter from Health Services at Penn State. It appears that all new students must provide electronic verification that you’ve had your MMR shot. A bit challenging for me since my family Dr is not longer living, nor are my parents, so records are a bit [...]
Posted by: leeerickson on: July 17, 2009
For some crazy reason I decided in my late (I’m talking late) 40′s to leave the business world and go back to school to get my PhD. I’m very excited about re-engaging my mind, learning a ton of new stuff, and starting a new career as a scholar, but I haven’t even really started yet [...]
