Graduate Student Corner: New faces - Emily Dogwillo
I was honored when Kate Thomas and Mark
Lukowitsky asked me to write for the Graduate Student Corner of the SITAR
newsletter. I first learned about SITAR as a graduate student at Penn State
University from my advisor Aaron Pincus and have attended the 2013 conference
in Park City, Utah and the 2014 conference in New Haven, Connecticut. In each
case, my experiences at SITAR have been immensely rewarding, inspiring new
research directions and projects, expanding my conceptualization of what
interpersonal research means and the methods and statistical techniques that
help to answer interpersonal research questions, and forming connections with
other interpersonal researchers. When reflecting on these experiences, I
quickly noticed that my observations, like so many other things, organically
seemed to cluster around agency and communion.
Although research conferences more broadly serve as expressions of agency, SITAR’s commitment to the agentic goals of its graduate students is impressive. Each year, the conference program is populated by papers from both renowned scholars and graduate students alike. SITAR provides graduate students with the opportunity to present their work to leaders in interpersonal research and capitalize on their wisdom and experience, which is freely given. Moreover, graduate student papers and posters are not just accepted, they are encouraged through the development of the Jerry S. Wiggins Student Award and through the establishment of student travel grants, which help defray the cost of the conference specifically for students presenting their research. In fact, SITAR members are so committed to promoting agency among graduate students that many of them donate money from their own pockets to ensure that graduate student presenters can attend the conference and share their research with the SITAR community. To those of you who have made donations, I would like to say thank you!
SITAR’s investment in agency is matched only by its investment in communion. SITAR is, first and foremost, a community and by attending a SITAR conference, you become seamlessly integrated into that community. In the most recent SITAR newsletter, Joshua Oltmanns described the conference as feeling “like a reunion of a group of friends who have known each other for years,” a description that is decidedly on point. I would add that this same feeling is present regardless of the number of SITAR conferences you have attended or whether you are a graduate student or a tenured faculty member. In part, I think this is due to the shared communal experience of a SITAR conference. Everyone has a shared interest in interpersonal research. Everyone hears all of the same high quality talks. Everyone breaks bread together at meals. This common experience both in and outside of the formal program facilitates building relationships with others right off the bat.
My experiences at SITAR have continued to bolster my enthusiasm for interpersonal research. SITAR’s continued commitment to “expanding the circle,” bringing in different perspectives, voices, and methods continues to challenge and inspire me in my own research. I am looking forward to the 2015 conference in Toronto, Canada, to seeing old friends, and to making new ones.
Emily A. Dowgwillo
Clinical Psychology Graduate Student
The Pennsylvania State University
Although research conferences more broadly serve as expressions of agency, SITAR’s commitment to the agentic goals of its graduate students is impressive. Each year, the conference program is populated by papers from both renowned scholars and graduate students alike. SITAR provides graduate students with the opportunity to present their work to leaders in interpersonal research and capitalize on their wisdom and experience, which is freely given. Moreover, graduate student papers and posters are not just accepted, they are encouraged through the development of the Jerry S. Wiggins Student Award and through the establishment of student travel grants, which help defray the cost of the conference specifically for students presenting their research. In fact, SITAR members are so committed to promoting agency among graduate students that many of them donate money from their own pockets to ensure that graduate student presenters can attend the conference and share their research with the SITAR community. To those of you who have made donations, I would like to say thank you!
SITAR’s investment in agency is matched only by its investment in communion. SITAR is, first and foremost, a community and by attending a SITAR conference, you become seamlessly integrated into that community. In the most recent SITAR newsletter, Joshua Oltmanns described the conference as feeling “like a reunion of a group of friends who have known each other for years,” a description that is decidedly on point. I would add that this same feeling is present regardless of the number of SITAR conferences you have attended or whether you are a graduate student or a tenured faculty member. In part, I think this is due to the shared communal experience of a SITAR conference. Everyone has a shared interest in interpersonal research. Everyone hears all of the same high quality talks. Everyone breaks bread together at meals. This common experience both in and outside of the formal program facilitates building relationships with others right off the bat.
My experiences at SITAR have continued to bolster my enthusiasm for interpersonal research. SITAR’s continued commitment to “expanding the circle,” bringing in different perspectives, voices, and methods continues to challenge and inspire me in my own research. I am looking forward to the 2015 conference in Toronto, Canada, to seeing old friends, and to making new ones.
Emily A. Dowgwillo
Clinical Psychology Graduate Student
The Pennsylvania State University