If you've been following my blog, you'll notice that I have been adding more and more articles about poets and authors, as well as other articles. These articles and essays were not written out of thin air. I had to write them for my PhD classes and am sharing them with you.
In early 2019, I was accepted into the PhD Leadership Program with specialty content in English at the University of the Cumberlands, KY. This totally online program worked well for me as I did not want to have to move to Kentucky to take classes. Also, I was thrilled because I had wanted to get a PhD ever since I was a teenager.
My dream of attaining this degree didn't come to fruition until now, because Life took over and demanded my time. I had to be a career woman, a wife, a homeschooling mother, a novelist, poet, and a widow first. Yet the dream did not disappear.
I had to get my MFA in Creative Writing at the National University, California, first (in order to get accepted, I had to have a portfolio of writing). And the dream was still there.
I had to direct the Hellenic Writers' Group first (in order to be accepted into this program, I needed to have had at least 5 years in a leadership role). The dream kept pushing me to do something about the PhD. Up until now, I had not really known what I wanted to study because I had so many interests. A PhD is a 3-year commitment (at least), and it takes time, commitment, and money. I needed to know for sure that the field of study was the one I was interested in. Leadership was something that appealed to me, and so was writing.
So I applied to the University of the Cumberlands in 2018, to their online Leadership Program. For the application, I had to write an essay on what my dissertation topic would be. In the Spring of 2019, I received the acceptance letter. I was overjoyed yet cautious. I had recently passed my 60th year of life. Could I do it at this late stage? Yet I wanted to do it. It had been a dream of mine ever since I was thirteen.
I attended my online graduate classes faithfully and did very well in them. I learned so much about leadership, adult learning, higher education leadership, the organizational change process and even the teaching of content. I learned about qualitative and quantitative research. I learned about Irish Poetry, African-American novels, Immigration Narrative, Creative Writing, and much more. During these classes, I met students who were CEO's of companies, principals of schools, and other students who were going for their second or third PhD. I met students with two Master's degrees, and in our discussions, I read classmates' posts with interest because of the high caliber of writing. I was impressed. I wasn't sure if online classes were as good as brick-and-mortar classes, and I found out the value of my education during 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and everyone had to go online. We were ahead of everyone!
It's been two glorious years, and now, in the Spring of 2021, I entered my dissertation phase. I had to find a topic, and out of five choices, I am happy to announce that my topic has been approved. I have been diligently working on my literature search/review for my qualitative dissertation. We've been told that this is a marathon and not a sprint. For each day that I am alive and breathing and able to do this, I thank God.
Here is an abstract of my topic:
Abstract
This qualitative research case study aimed to determine Edmund Keeley’s leadership style in leading and causing change through his works as an author, Greek translator, educator, and president of two nonprofit organizations and helping form a movement that shared Greek literature with the world. A noticeable gap in modern Greek literature and modern Greek literary canon provided the impetus to investigate further why this was the case. The study aligns itself with learning and leadership theories and built credibility through the triangulation process (Bass, 2008; Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The research questions posed in this dissertation were: What is Edmund Keeley’s leadership style as translator, novelist, educator, and president of the Modern Greek Studies Association and PEN America; how was Edmund Keeley’s leadership style developed; what or who helped shape Edmund Keeley’s choice to work with Greek poets, write Greek-themed literature, and lead in Greek organizations; how did Edmund Keeley use the change process in the organizations he led? Data derived from references, books, publications, documents, Internet sources, and interviews to form the triangulation process helped answer the questions (Noble & Heale, 2019; Yin, 2009). The study results showed that Keeley switched his leadership style from democratic to servant to transformational, depending on the situation. Therefore, this dissertation proposes that Keeley was a situational or flexible leader who adapted to change. Implications for the future include a need for more research on literature and leadership, and the future of Greek literature and Modern Greek studies in the United States.
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