In case you didn't hear, Joey and I were both accepted to Ph.D. programs at the University of Arizona and will be relocating to Tucson later this summer. Ok, wait, let me back up.
Joey completed his master's degree in Management Information Systems (business-computer stuff) in December of 2010. His plan had always been to go back to school and get a Ph.D. so he could teach full time at a university, but because we went off and got hitched a little over a month before his graduation, he decided to wait until I was finished with my M.A. in Political Science (no I don't want to run for office). I also decided I wanted a Ph.D. but I'm more of a make-it-up-as-I-go type person. But I love school, love learning, and teaching is probably the only job I could keep for an extended period of time without going bonkers. I completed my degree this May (2012), so last fall we applied to programs in no less than 7 different cities. Only one school accepted both of us with graduate assistant positions (meaning we will have jobs while we go to school with tuition completely paid for), and that was the University of Arizona. Lucky for us, that was our number one pick anyway. It is an incredible program for Joey, a fairly good program for me as well, and Tucson was the city we wanted to live in the most. So needless to say, we were psyched.
So what does this mean? It means Joey and I will both go back to school in Fall of 2012 to begin our Ph.D. programs.
How long will we be gone? The programs can take anywhere from 4-5 years, but Joey's strongly encourages a five year track and I'll probably use the extra time to pick up an additional minor or two.
What will we be doing, exactly? The first couple of years will essentially be us doing the same thing we've been doing for the past 19 years-going to class. At the same time, we will be working as graduate assistants. I will be a teaching assistant and basically assist professors teaching their courses. Joey will be a research assistant and assist professors with their fancy schmancy research projects. After our courses are completed, we will begin our dissertations. Basically, we have to write a book. And while we are working on this we will be teaching classes. Once we are finished with our courses, finished with our dissertations, and teach some classes, we get a nice Ph.D. degree and everyone has to call us Dr.
Will we come back? We want to. Well, we at least want to get close to Memphis again. We both grew up here, most of our family is here, and I want our future children to be as close to our families as I was growing up. However, where we end up is essentially a crap shoot as to where we can get jobs, so we will see.
So you're going to be teachers? Pretty much. Joey wants to teach and research for a university. I want to as well, but I'm also a certified yoga instructor and am planning to get certified as a doula when we move to Arizona (more on that later). I would love to do all three, so I am open to any combination of the above. But yes, in a nutshell, we want to be professors.
So there you have it. We are going to Arizona!
