RESOURCES

Dean Theda Skocpol's advice to the incoming GSAS class

At the GSAS Orientation, held September 12, 2007, Dean Theda Skocpol delivered the following remarks to the incoming class of graduate students:

It is wonderful to see all of you here today – a sea of faces full of hope, determination, good humor – and, yes, maybe even bits of trepidation about meeting the challenges that lie ahead!

At Harvard University, the two most wondrous days of the academic year are Graduation Day – that day, every June, when we celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates and send them off into the wider world to do good – and this day, Admissions Day, when we welcome new students to the university. These days are brightly sunny no matter what -- as in fact today is in weather as well as mood. This 2007 GSAS Admissions Day is also extra special, because it is the first time, of many to come, when we hear greetings from our splendid new President, Drew Faust. Thank you very much, President Faust, for your words of wisdom and for being with us here today.

During the coming years you will spend here doing your graduate studies at Harvard, you will often hear talk of the wealth and power of this great university --which is not exactly a humble place! But don’t be overly bedazzled – for you should always bear in mind that Harvard’s real wealth and power lie, above all, in the skills, the determination, the good values, and the energy and optimism that you and your fellow students, graduate and undergraduate, lend to us for portions of your lives. Harvard is its people, not only its bank account. We flourish especially because of the arrival of new learners and contributors such as all of you -- and our worth through the years is shaped by the accomplishments of our faculty and our students.

So we need and treasure you. We cherish all that you will give to us and share with us while you are here. And we anticipate the many creative and fruitful years you will spend after you earn your degrees and go on to work in so many settings – in colleges and universities, in research laboratories, in government agencies, in cultural institutions, and in the communities of place and purpose where you and your family will live your lives. No wonder the faculty from your departments who are greeting you today and in the next couple of weeks will be smiling. They know where our riches lie.

Keep in mind that graduate students studying for PhDs and MA degrees in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are very special members of the larger Harvard University community. Yes, of course, there are other special groups here: the eager and gifted undergraduates of Harvard College, the creative faculty, the alumni – and even the hardworking administrators. Yet you are extra special because as graduate students you will participate in all of the ongoing endeavors that make the university flourish: you learn as students; you will teach in one way or another; and you will create new knowledge as you do your research.

In the remainder of my brief welcoming remarks, I have a number of pieces of advice for you – based on what I learned back when I was a graduate student at Harvard between 1969 and 1975, and based on thirty years of working in partnership with graduate students in political science, sociology, and history and getting to know others in many fields.

(1) GET TO KNOW AT LEAST THREE OR FOUR FACULTY MEMBERS REALLY WELL – AND LET THEM KNOW IN SOME DEPTH ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK.

Of course, you will want to develop a close relationship in due course with one primary mentor – with your lab director or your thesis advisor. But do what you can -- by picking sets of courses, visiting faculty during office hours, working as a teaching fellow, and participating as a research assistant in faculty-led projects -- to get to know more than one of Harvard’s remarkable faculty members really well. Your can only gain by learning from multiple people, and discovering your own way to put together the many insights they have to offer. And, of course, you do not want to be completely dependent on one person for your future.

(2) REMEMBER THAT MUCH OF WHAT YOU LEARN WILL BE FROM -- AND ALONG WITH -- YOUR FELLOW GRADUATE STUDENTS.

You are not in zero-sum competition with one another. Some graduate schools bring in hordes of students and expect 50% or more to fall by the wayside. That is not how we do it here at Harvard University. The faculty members in your 58 degree programs spent many, many hours pouring over application files last winter, and the narrowed down the huge piles to find a relatively small number for each program. In my department, Government, we aim to welcome about two dozen PhD students out of more than 500 applicants – people we are sure can flourish here and earn the PhD. The numbers differ from program to program, but not the basic idea. You have all been picked as people we are sure can earn the degrees you have signed up for. We expect all of you to succeed, and you are NOT in zero-sum competition with one another. So team up with other students in your program to study for classes, prepare for general exams – and gossip about the foibles of the faculty! The friendships you make will buoy your spirits, and last a lifetime. You are getting to know the movers and shakers of the future. And you will learn a great deal from each other as well as from the faculty.

(3) KEEP IN MIND THAT HARVARD HAS LOTS OF FOOD – FOR THOUGHT, AND ALSO FOR THE STOMACH!

Colloquia, workshops, dinner-discussions, departmental and special interest gatherings are ubiquitous – not just in your department but all over the university. Pace yourself, but regularly attend some of them – including events outside of your immediate specialty. You will learn a lot, and meet key scholars and public figures from all over the world, because everyone who is anyone visits here sooner or later.

Not just that, but you will also find good food and drink at most of these events. You need not be constrained by a tight budget or monotonous fare at a regular meal site. I learned this over the years watching grad students – and people from the Cambridge community – attend all kinds of events in the Government Department, eating their way eagerly through delicious sandwiches, nice fruit and cheese plates, healthy vegetable platters, sinful dissert trays – all while drinking good wines! One man from the community comes almost every day to some event in Government, and I suspect that Harvard University is feeding him for most of his meals. You may not want to go that far, but you can definitely save some money, avoid cooking all the time, and eat pretty well around here -- while learning and meeting and greeting at the same time. So dig in to the intellectual fare and chow down, too.

(4) ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, REALIZE THAT WHILE YOUR GRADUATE YEARS SHOULD BE WONDERFUL TIME -- AS WELL AS A STRENUOUS TIME OF LEARNING AND ACHIEVING -- THEY ARE A PRELUDE NOT A LIFETIME.

In June, I will stand before new MAs and PhDs in this same theater – at a time called “Commencement.” It is called that for a good reason: the receipt of the advanced degrees you have come here to earn is the beginning of a mature life of achievement in the many careers for which you are preparing – in universities and colleges, in research laboratories and think tanks, in government and private agencies.

Before you get to the end of this first year of graduate studies – which may seem overwhelming at moments – step back and make a plan for yourself. Set out goals and guideposts to help you move steadily through your basic classes and examinations promptly, so that you can get into doing actual research and prepare to define your own thesis project. Allow some time to learn to be a conscientious and effective teacher, as you, in many cases, do some instructional work to help earn your support. Keep in mind that absolute perfection is not your goal, but working hard and doing “well enough” at each step along the way. You are all so smart and capable of learning and improving as scholars and teachers, that your “good enough” is going to be just fine, as long as you sustain that level of commitment – and remain always open to new ideas, skills, and collegial relationships.

Don’t be afraid to demand that your faculty advisors help you along the way. Don’t wait for them to ask you to meet milestones – set your own deadlines, along with your peers, and take the initiative. As soon as you can -- by the second year or third year if possible -- get involved in actual research and in writing papers to present at workshops and professional conferences. Make the papers you write for courses into realistic research contributions whenever you can.

You are, in short, here not to study forever, but to become front-line contributors to the advancement of knowledge, and the inspiration of others through teaching inside and outside the classroom. You should aspire to do these things well and also to have your degrees in hand as soon as reasonably possible. Graduate school is the road to commencement, not an end in itself.

(5) AND FINALLY, KEEP GRADUATE SCHOOL ITSELF IN PERSPECTIVE.

If you are a member of a faith community, keep your commitments to it. If you care about values of community and public service, find ways to get involved. Share activities and ideas based on your basic values – and try to forge and maintain some ties to people in the real world beyond the university.

Speaking for myself, I came here in 1969 to study for the PhD in Sociology, along with my husband of forty years, Bill Skocpol, who came here to study for the PhD in Physics at the same time. Before we arrived here, we participated together in an important, life-changing commitment. While undergraduates at Michigan State University, Bill and I traveled with a youth group from our church to do volunteer work as part of the Civil Rights movement in Holly Springs, Mississippi. We engaged in volunteer work as teachers of incoming African American freshmen at Rust College, an all-black college. We learned the values of racial equality in a real-world setting at a time of change and turmoil. And we learned to teach and value students who were not the most privileged or the most conventionally well-prepared. We found each other, and got married as undergraduates. And we discovered through experience some civic and value commitments that have guided us through our adult lives.

Last January, we both returned to Michigan State University to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this volunteer experience from the 1960s, a pivotal time in U.S. democratic history. But what we gained back then has not been all in the past – not only because of our enduring marriage, but because we have always remembered the values we learned and lived back then. We have found other communities and activities through which to pursue them while we have served as professors at Boston University and Harvard University.

In short, keep your hearts in the fundamental places. Study, teach, and do research with tough-minded commitment and hard work while you are here – and, at the same time, remain true to your deepest values about what matters beyond as well as within the University.

Thank you again for coming to Harvard. Thank you for bringing yourselves to work with us. We are delighted you are here, and we look forward to all you will contribute while you learn and teach and discover with us.