How to work in a way that works with Alison Miller the Dissertation Coach

Dr. Alison Miller is an academic entrepreneur with a PhD in clinical psychology. Over the last 23 years, she has served graduate students by helping them learn to "work in a way that works." We have a heart-centered and candid conversation about the psychologically damaging aspects of the academy that can be changed, one dissertation at a time. 

Dr. Miller knew she was allergic to academic culture, so she developed The Dissertation Coach. She saw that students were struggling, people were leaving without degrees, and that they did not have enough institutional support for graduate students-- and she could fill that gap with process-oriented project management, accountability, and heart-centered support. Ultimately, challenging and changing the relationship to academic work.

We specifically talk about:

- People (including those in the position of power) are under-mentored or mis-mentored

- We need co-working spaces to not feel alone on this journey

- She wants students to be better able to manage the doubt and desire to leave

- How do we work in academia as a human

- Teach people to know and learn how to work and do so that works for us as human beings

- It’s 2023, it’s time for academic culture to upgrade itself, it’s stuck in a different era

- Students are experiencing trauma (loss of parent, miscarriages, major health crises) and the typical response is callousness

- There is hope, it can get better

- More people in academia waking up; more aware of themselves, that they impact other people—if you are conscientious that people are on the receiving end of the manner in which you mentor

- Some people think they've been granted permission to treat students poorly

- Institutional betrayal- example learning about empathy in a psychology department but the students aren’t being met with empathy

- Writing is a practice, it takes work, it's a skill and craft that we gain over time

- We should banish “you should know this" from your vernacular

- You are working in a system that is not awake and conscious yet. You’re not rewarded for that. People aren’t hired on their people skills 

- Let’s make this system better, thrive to learn while they're here. We’re responsible for making the change where you aren’t brutalized for years getting your degree

- Our #1 priority is regulating our own nervous systems.

- Om nama nama- bow to something greater than yourself

- You don’t need to fix anything, you’re not broken. How am I now? What version of me has shown up here? What am I trying to do? Are they compatible with the work I need to do? Can the answer be grounded in the reality of my unfolding experience

More at: https://www.thedissertationcoach.com/team/alison-miller-phd-dissertation-coach-owner-and-founder-of-the-dissertation-coach/