Posts by Marie Stango

Graduate School Blog »
Posts by Marie Stango

Candidate Stango Goes to Washington; Or, Adventures in the Archives

May 10, 2013 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

As a Ph.D. Candidate in History, I'm working on the intersections between the history of American antislavery and the history of families. My dissertation traces the journey of African American families as they migrated from North America to West Africa during the early nineteenth century, locating settlers and missionaries as they established new lives for themselves in the American colonies at Liberia. These migrants often kept in close contact with family members that remained in the United States after the Atlantic crossing was made, and I have been working on uncovering the histories of these connections. It has been a…

Published in: Student Voices

An Historian’s Toolbox

October 29, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

Last month, a friend of mine posted this story to his Facebook – http://www.donaldasher.com/articles/myths_phd.html – which is a short essay on what sorts of non-academic jobs Ph.D.s might hold. The essay was a welcome reprieve from the articles that toll the bells for poor graduate students who will soon be thrust into the job market and wind up unemployed. While the author of the essay concedes that yes, there are more Ph.D.s being produced than there are academic jobs, other options do exist. His point is that the skills you learn as a graduate student are skills that are desirable…

Published in: Student Voices

Another September, Another School Year

September 27, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

When I wrote my blog post last September, I was looking ahead to all of the academic work that I needed to complete that year – some coursework, teaching, and my preliminary exams. Happily, I start this year with all of those milestones under my belt and can now say that I am a Ph.D. candidate. So far, being a candidate has been vastly different than my first three years of the Ph.D. program. Last year, the academic calendar kept me in check, as I was responsible for both attending my own courses and for preparing lessons as a GSI.…

Published in: Student Voices

Writing as an Art

July 16, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

I had always imagined myself as a writer. As soon as I learned to read, I was writing. My aunt, who is a reading specialist for the public school system in my hometown, taught me how to read at a young age, and soon encouraged me to write. Using colored construction paper and crayons, together we would create mini-books, in which I would write stories about superhero cats and magical forests. Writing is one of the reasons I wanted to pursue an advanced degree. I distinctly remember the first time I had heard about theses and dissertations: I was in…

Published in: Student Voices

College Town Life in the Summer

June 11, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

Ann Arbor is really wonderful during the summer: The weather is usually gorgeous, things are less crowded since many of the undergraduates leave town, and sunlight lasts until nine in the evening. There are also a lot of things to do in the area, and Ann Arbor has a good amount of summer activities happening. One of my favorite things to do in the summer is work in the coffee shops downtown. It’s easy to find a seat outside or near a big window, and generally, places are less crowded now than during the school year. I really like lab…

Published in: Student Voices

Researching and Writing During the Summer

April 27, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

You wouldn’t know it from the weather in Michigan, but it’s springtime here. After a week of 80-degree temperatures, the temperature started cooling down again (we even had snow flurries last week). Today, the weather is warm and humid: certainly reminiscent of summer in Michigan. All of these fluctuations in the weather are making me think about my own plans for the summer. The truth is that I don’t know exactly where I’ll be this summer, though I know I’ll be doing research. One of the more trying parts of graduate school is waiting to hear back about the status…

Published in: Student Voices

What Is the Purpose of Studying History?

April 9, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

In thinking about my own work as an historian, I cannot help but think of the profession as a whole. Traditionally, a “successful” practitioner of history with a Ph.D. was supposed to find a tenure-track job at a university, where he or she would teach undergraduate students and complete research. While this myth of “success” was never the case for every Ph.D., only in the past few years have professional historians really thought about the state of the profession and what it means to be an historian. This past October, the then-President and the Executive Editor of the American Historical…

Published in: Student Voices

Choosing to “Go Blue”: Why I Decided to Enroll at U-M

February 24, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

I decided to apply to graduate programs in history during my senior year of college. Ultimately, I applied to about a dozen programs that piqued my interest. I was told that the most important thing to keep in mind was “fit” – how I felt that I would fit in with the school, the department, and most important, the faculty. Faculty advisors are integral in graduate education, and it was vitally important that I find an advisor who could support my research. While applying, I sent e-mails to at least one person on the faculty at each school who had…

Published in: Student Voices

An East Coast Perspective on Midwest Winters

February 1, 2012 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

What do you think of when you imagine winter in the Midwest – snowdrifts and sub-zero temperatures? This is exactly what I envisioned after I was accepted to U-M. When I decided to move to Michigan for grad school, I began to worry about winter in the Midwest. Granted, I grew up in New England and went to school in New York – so I was very familiar with winter weather – but I really thought that winter in Michigan would be worse. Well, I’m here to tell you that winter here isn’t so bad (at least, not in Southeast…

Published in: Student Voices

First-Generation College Graduate; First-Generation College Student

December 7, 2011 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

I am really proud of where I come from, and I’m very fortunate to have a close-knit and supportive family. But one of the things that I have struggled with in graduate school is how to occupy the space between my family and my academic life. I think this is something that many students struggle with. However, I feel that it is especially pertinent for me, as I am a first generation college student. That is, neither of my parents attended a four-year college. While I have extended family members who attended four-year institutions (I have many aunts and uncles…

Published in: Student Voices

Faculty Connections: Maintaining a Good Relationship with an Advisor

November 22, 2011 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

One of the most important people – if not the most important person – in my graduate school experience so far is my advisor. I’m very lucky to have a supportive, knowledgeable, and helpful advisor. Before I applied to U-M, I knew that I wanted to work with her. It was a bit difficult at first to get over the shock of meeting and working with someone whom I greatly admire. I had read all of her books and many of her articles in undergrad, and so I often felt nervous at our meetings during the first term. Happily, my…

Published in: Student Voices

Balance: Downtime

October 27, 2011 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

Balancing work and life in grad school is not easy. In fact, many grad students in my department would say that work is their life right now. It can be tough to find time to get groceries or do laundry while in a demanding doctoral program – never mind make time for friends and family. Still, we all find ways of making it work. For me, that means plotting out my time with a day planner. Of course, I have things like teaching, classes, and meetings written into my planner. But I also plot out the amount of time readings…

Published in: Student Voices

Meet the Bloggers: Marie Stango

September 27, 2011 | By Marie Stango, Ph.D. Student, History

Welcome! My name is Marie Elizabeth Stango, and I am entering my third year as a Ph.D. student in the Department of History. I am from Waterbury, Connecticut, but I moved to Michigan from New York after completing my B.A. at New York University in 2009. Transitioning from life in the Big Apple was a bit of a jolt, but I've enjoyed my time at U-M immensely. I grew up in a working-class family, and neither of my parents attended college. However, they, along with my grandparents, always supported me in college and pushed me to do my absolute best…

Published in: Student Voices

Page 1 of 1 pages

Suggest a Story

Have a suggestion or story idea? Send it to Rackham's Blog Team.

Be Social

© 2013 The Regents of the University of Michigan

Rackham Graduate School
915 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070

Smoke-free Campus

The University of Michigan's commitment to diversity is a central part of our mission to ensure the excellence of graduate education.