2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Yvette Pearson
Larissa Sazama
Author
11/01/2017
Added
11
Plays
Description
Dr. Yvette Pearson, Associate Dean for Accreditation and Assessment at Rice University, shares her ideas for succeeding in Graduate School. For more information, please visit http://matc.unl.edu/education/scholars-program2017.php.
Searchable Transcript
Toggle between list and paragraph view.
- [00:00:04.160]Good evening.
- [00:00:05.350]Good evening.
- [00:00:06.648]And thank you Amy, thank you Judy for inviting me,
- [00:00:12.117]it's a pleasure to be here.
- [00:00:15.846]Eric has told me about this meeting for a number of years
- [00:00:19.073]and so I'm happy to be able to visit and join you this time.
- [00:00:26.524]I just want to share with you, I was asked to share
- [00:00:30.138]ideas for what's needed to succeed in graduate school.
- [00:00:36.558]And as I was thinking I thought about the things that I'm
- [00:00:40.459]going to share with you tonight are not just applicable
- [00:00:43.687]to graduate school, but they're also applicable
- [00:00:47.227]in life in general, so I'm going to dive in, I have four
- [00:00:51.151]quick points, I was already told by people at my table
- [00:00:54.588]who shall remain nameless, that the sooner I finish,
- [00:01:01.562]the sooner they can leave and go do some other things.
- [00:01:04.515](audience laughs)
- [00:01:05.513]So I will try not to keep you long, but I was also told
- [00:01:09.271]that I could open up for question and answer at the end
- [00:01:14.409]which I would love to do and to learn a bit more
- [00:01:16.785]about you all and answer any questions you might have.
- [00:01:21.058]So four things needed to succeed in graduate school.
- [00:01:26.638]And again, just in life in general.
- [00:01:29.645]I call them my four P's.
- [00:01:31.933]Planning, preparation, perseverance, and people.
- [00:01:41.571]Planning, preparation, perseverance, and people.
- [00:01:47.472]So we'll start with planning.
- [00:01:52.338]When you set out to do anything you should have a plan,
- [00:01:56.367]I always tell people to begin with the end in mind.
- [00:02:01.150]Say it when you're thinking about giving a presentation,
- [00:02:04.738]when you're thinking about what your next step on your
- [00:02:08.847]journey is, and when I say the end, when we're talking about
- [00:02:12.676]your journey, keep realizing that it's more of milestones
- [00:02:18.948]than endpoints, but begin with the end in mind.
- [00:02:22.919]Think about where you're trying to go and have an idea
- [00:02:26.757]of how you're going to get there.
- [00:02:28.756]Now I understand you're at different stages right now
- [00:02:32.706]in your undergraduate careers and you might not have
- [00:02:36.372]a clear picture, when I was in my sophomore year I was
- [00:02:42.226]in mechanical engineering and thought that man this static
- [00:02:47.776]stuff is cool, I loved it, I'm so glad I chose mechanical
- [00:02:52.998]engineering and I was by the way in this man's class
- [00:02:56.437](laughs) I'm sorry I'm telling your age, didn't mean that.
- [00:03:01.595]But, and I ended up talking to one of my civil engineering
- [00:03:06.651]professors, Huey Lawson at the time and he said well I hate
- [00:03:10.796]to break it to you but static is more civil and I was like
- [00:03:16.027]well you're just trying to get me to change my major
- [00:03:18.540]so whatever and so he took me to his office and he's
- [00:03:22.834]a structural engineer and so he showed me some
- [00:03:25.164]of the projects he was working on and I was like yeah that's
- [00:03:27.897]civil engineering alright and I changed my major
- [00:03:32.827]to civil engineering.
- [00:03:35.660]Also while in this gentleman's class, I decided because I
- [00:03:39.003]would have study groups all the time at my house, I tried
- [00:03:43.232]to get him to come to a couple and give us a leg up
- [00:03:45.611]but it didn't work.
- [00:03:47.467]But I found myself in a position where I was able
- [00:03:54.400]to explain things to my classmates and I could see
- [00:03:57.677]the light bulbs go off and right then it ignited a spark
- [00:04:00.902]in me to become a professor and that's when my plan
- [00:04:05.441]kind of started.
- [00:04:07.824]So I was going to be this structural engineering professor
- [00:04:10.736]because this was just the coolest thing and then when
- [00:04:15.533]I got to my senior year, I needed some elective courses,
- [00:04:19.953]the only things that fit my schedule were environmental
- [00:04:22.680]courses, I took those environmental courses and said wow
- [00:04:27.056]well this is pretty cool and guess what I'm an environmental
- [00:04:30.847]engineer, but again, I have the plan so I know I'm going
- [00:04:35.328]to finish this degree.
- [00:04:36.640]Ultimately I'm going to become this professor, but I was
- [00:04:39.612]flexible enough to change along the way I wasn't so stuck
- [00:04:43.764]rigidly into become that structural engineer or what
- [00:04:47.156]I thought before was that mechanical engineer
- [00:04:50.270]that I couldn't change courses and so that's what
- [00:04:52.800]I encourage you.
- [00:04:53.984]Develop your plan, write it down.
- [00:04:56.144]I mean I know I loved when I had my curriculum in front
- [00:04:59.634]of me as an undergraduate when I could check off
- [00:05:02.286]the classes at the end of the semester, put the grades in,
- [00:05:05.444]and see the sheets fill up, that made me feel like I was
- [00:05:08.400]getting some traction, making some progress.
- [00:05:11.073]I still do that today, my most productive days start
- [00:05:13.602]with a checklist and end with at least one thing done
- [00:05:17.793](laughs) but so start with your plan and remember in your
- [00:05:23.168]planning to have flexibility and that flexibility allows
- [00:05:29.523]for you to navigate through these different crooks
- [00:05:33.013]and turns that you'll find that life will take you through.
- [00:05:35.441]So the second thing really aligned with that
- [00:05:38.800]is preparing.
- [00:05:41.517]Preparation is so critical, if you're going to accomplish
- [00:05:45.008]anything in life you have to put in the work and as you
- [00:05:49.446]know as engineering students that are advanced in your
- [00:05:52.883]degrees for the most part, it takes a lot of work.
- [00:05:56.784]So you've heard the saying before, anything worth having
- [00:05:59.617]is worth working for.
- [00:06:03.134]And if something comes too easily, it's probably not worth
- [00:06:06.304]very much and we could take that in a different direction
- [00:06:10.864]but I won't go there today, but that is true.
- [00:06:14.512]My mom always says this to me and she still says this now,
- [00:06:17.135]you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get.
- [00:06:22.430]So you'll find that the things that have the most value
- [00:06:25.263]to you in life are the things that you have some skin
- [00:06:29.937]in the game for, you've put in some sweat equity
- [00:06:32.832]and sometimes it's blood, sweat, and tears, but you treasure
- [00:06:38.005]it and you value it so much more.
- [00:06:40.797]And what that preparation does is it helps you to...
- [00:06:48.796]It equips you to be ready for opportunities that may
- [00:06:51.420]present themselves, opportunities that right now may not
- [00:06:56.014]even exist or opportunities that exist but you don't know
- [00:07:01.138]that they exist.
- [00:07:03.773]And so when you're thinking of equipping yourselves,
- [00:07:06.814]think about putting things that you need in your toolbox.
- [00:07:11.907]Having your toolbox as ready to go as possible.
- [00:07:15.290]I remember one night after church, somebody had something
- [00:07:21.118]break down and someone needed a particular tool.
- [00:07:27.745]The puzzling thing to me was that nobody had any tools
- [00:07:32.299]except me, I always have tools.
- [00:07:37.405]And so it's like whatever tool you need just look in that
- [00:07:40.252]little orange bag in the back of my car and you'll find it.
- [00:07:44.942]And so you want to have the tools because you don't know
- [00:07:48.307]what you're going to need in the future.
- [00:07:53.162]One of my favorite tools is my Mr. 7 Hands,
- [00:07:58.980]has anybody ever heard of Mr. 7 Hands?
- [00:08:02.083]It's a tool now, don't take this in another direction,
- [00:08:05.601]but it's a screwdriver basically that has seven hands
- [00:08:10.545]on it, so any kind of screwdriver in any size you need
- [00:08:14.016]you basically have it covered in that one tool.
- [00:08:18.372]And that's how I'd like you to think of yourselves
- [00:08:20.973]as you're getting this preparation, what are those tools
- [00:08:24.337]that you get put in your tool belt along with your degree
- [00:08:29.990]to help make you marketable as a graduate school
- [00:08:33.860]candidate or any an employee or as an entrepreneur
- [00:08:39.111]or whatever your path ends up being.
- [00:08:42.055]So think of things in terms of lifelong learning,
- [00:08:49.208]look for every opportunity you can get to gather more
- [00:08:53.224]knowledge and to be able to use it.
- [00:08:57.128]I was thinking earlier of the steps that I took.
- [00:09:06.466]When I got my PhD everybody calls that a terminal degree.
- [00:09:12.997]And I really hate thinking of it in that way because it
- [00:09:17.061]makes it sound like you don't need to know anything else.
- [00:09:19.975]After you get this, that's it.
- [00:09:23.428]I decided I wanted to have an education consulting company
- [00:09:27.014]and I went and got a graduate certificate in education
- [00:09:31.416]research methodology, it's one of my tools in my toolkit.
- [00:09:35.561]Every time I see a professional development opportunity
- [00:09:38.661]come along that has something to do with sustainable
- [00:09:40.981]design which is my area within environmental engineering,
- [00:09:44.013]or even communication, those types of things end up being
- [00:09:49.539]more tools in my tool belt.
- [00:09:53.750]Amy mentioned that I am a program evaluator for ABEC,
- [00:09:58.741]which is an accreditation board.
- [00:10:02.774]That was something, that was one of those opportunities
- [00:10:05.602]that was kind of beyond my line of vision.
- [00:10:09.857]Someone suggested it to me, I went and did the training,
- [00:10:16.948]became a PEV and what that ended up doing was when
- [00:10:22.452]I fastforward a few years, there's a job announcement
- [00:10:26.165]for an associate dean at Rice that they wanted to be a PEV
- [00:10:30.516]for ABEC, had I not gone and taken advantage of that
- [00:10:34.035]opportunity I wouldn't have had that tool in my tool belt
- [00:10:37.333]and I probably wouldn't be sitting here in this position
- [00:10:39.910]that I'm in now.
- [00:10:41.780]So don't think so narrowly when you think about your plan
- [00:10:47.622]and as you're preparing, grab all the tools you can along
- [00:10:51.489]the way and they'll benefit you, so think of it as lifelong
- [00:10:54.052]learning, think of it as continuous improvement.
- [00:10:59.650]How you can go about improving yourself.
- [00:11:02.402]The other thing is when you're trying to decide on what
- [00:11:04.792]those tools should be, I always advise people to talk
- [00:11:08.806]to someone who's doing what you think you might want to do,
- [00:11:13.250]if you could talk to that person and find out how they got
- [00:11:16.549]to where they are, what would they do differently if they
- [00:11:21.266]could do it differently.
- [00:11:23.724]What steps did they take that were right, and so get a sense
- [00:11:27.810]of that from that individual.
- [00:11:30.937]If it's someone you can't reach, the web is a wonderful
- [00:11:35.626]tool, get online, if it's someone within a company
- [00:11:38.797]or within a university, get online, look for their bios,
- [00:11:42.683]look for their CV's, find out things about them.
- [00:11:46.793]If you're looking at a particular graduate school
- [00:11:49.142]or you're looking at becoming a professor at a particular
- [00:11:51.867]university, go look at the people, look at where they got
- [00:11:56.630]their degrees from and apply to those schools because people
- [00:11:59.533]are creatures of habit, they tend to kind of go back
- [00:12:03.177]to the same places, so if they're getting their professors
- [00:12:07.422]from programs at these institutions, and you want to work
- [00:12:12.548]here, you probably need to be working towards getting
- [00:12:15.914]into these institutions.
- [00:12:19.177]Now you see some flexibility in that but by and large
- [00:12:22.567]people are creatures of habit, so do the research and figure
- [00:12:26.874]out what you need in terms of your tool belt and in terms
- [00:12:31.898]of your path.
- [00:12:34.394]And then the next thing is perseverance, overcoming
- [00:12:37.834]obstacles is critical to success.
- [00:12:46.333]Sometimes I think we back away from challenges out of fear
- [00:12:50.245]of failure, and I encourage you not to do that because we
- [00:12:55.098]can learn a lot from failures and others can learn a lot
- [00:13:00.021]from our failures as well, but don't be afraid to face
- [00:13:05.268]challenges that seem to be insurmountable.
- [00:13:11.259]It's up to you to decide would you face a challenge
- [00:13:14.707]or you face an obstacle, is this going to be a hurdle
- [00:13:22.054]or is it a barrier and that's your choice.
- [00:13:26.696]A hurdle, anybody run track in here?
- [00:13:30.450]Okay, so hurdles are designed to be overcome, do you win
- [00:13:34.908]the ran if you run around them?
- [00:13:37.670]Okay, what's that?
- [00:13:41.398](audience member speaking far off)
- [00:13:42.397](laughs)
- [00:13:43.626]But hurdles are intended to be overcome.
- [00:13:49.351]Something that's a barrier and I get the example
- [00:13:51.732]especially if I'm on my mobility scooter and I come up
- [00:13:55.206]to a curve that's four inches tall my scooter has a two
- [00:13:59.179]inch clearance, if there's no curve put out I cannot get
- [00:14:03.405]onto that sidewalk, that is a barrier, it's stopping
- [00:14:06.177]me from progressing.
- [00:14:09.152]And most of the challenges we face, most of the challenges,
- [00:14:12.785]I won't say all, but most of the challenges we face,
- [00:14:16.258]I believe we have the decision about whether that challenge
- [00:14:19.473]becomes a hurdle to us or it becomes a barrier.
- [00:14:25.905]So pay attention to those things and try to figure out
- [00:14:29.489]how to make it a hurdle that you overcome.
- [00:14:33.749]Some things are road blocks, some things are just detours,
- [00:14:37.812]you just know what, didn't work out this way,
- [00:14:42.978]GPS is rerouting, we're going to go, (audience laughs).
- [00:14:45.750]It's Houston traffic, you're on I59 trying to get
- [00:14:48.285]to the airport, I'm sorry, (laughs), you have to reroute
- [00:14:52.720]you can't go 59 you've got to go 610.
- [00:14:55.655]So be prepared to reroute when you can.
- [00:15:02.731]And then the other thing is the last thing and not the least
- [00:15:06.497]important by any means, people.
- [00:15:11.267]You need people in your life who are champions and who are
- [00:15:17.283]mentors and I'm so happy that I had those people in my life
- [00:15:22.867]very early and again two of them are sitting at this table.
- [00:15:27.682]One I'm going to describe a role they played that they
- [00:15:31.029]probably don't even know about, they were one of those
- [00:15:34.019]secondhand mentors when they didn't even realize it.
- [00:15:39.502]But Dr. Edgar Blevins when I was a freshman in college.
- [00:15:45.181]First of all, my original plan was to major in music
- [00:15:49.800]and foreign languages, my mom convinced me to major
- [00:15:53.005]in engineering, she saw potential in me that I did not
- [00:15:56.055]see in myself and I'm glad she did.
- [00:15:59.077]She never forced me to do it, but she said hey I think
- [00:16:02.758]you're selling yourself short, try it and if you don't like
- [00:16:06.357]it change your major, that's what she told me.
- [00:16:08.807]I think she was kind of using a little psychology on me
- [00:16:13.433]in retrospect because she knows once I start something
- [00:16:16.379]I am going to finish it and I remember my freshman year
- [00:16:23.605]going into Dr. Blevins' office and crying because oh I have
- [00:16:31.388]this C in calculus and the world is coming to an end
- [00:16:35.389]I cannot do this engineering, stop.
- [00:16:39.225]And I was boohooing when I came to his office he just
- [00:16:41.803]started handing me the Kleenex and said look I have a class
- [00:16:44.763]to go to but you're welcome to stay as long as you want,
- [00:16:49.152]here's the Kleenex (laughs).
- [00:16:52.108]But, he never discouraged me, he never said well maybe
- [00:16:55.244]you should think about changing your major, he always said,
- [00:16:59.914]well look, pointing me to resources, told me wail til
- [00:17:05.835]next semester, he was always pointing to next semester,
- [00:17:09.341]next semester will be better and guess what it was
- [00:17:12.534]it got better.
- [00:17:14.636]And I'm thankful for that kind of encouragement and that
- [00:17:19.101]kind of push, that kind of cheerleading that pushes you on
- [00:17:25.792]and you need that in your life and it may not be a professor
- [00:17:28.972]it may be a sibling, it may be a parent, it may be a friend,
- [00:17:32.492]but you should have that in your life.
- [00:17:36.251]The other example I want to give you is during my masters
- [00:17:39.852]program when I started my masters program I didn't know
- [00:17:44.956]what to do, I knew I needed to take these classes
- [00:17:48.524]and at some point do a thesis, which I really didn't have
- [00:17:51.597]a good idea of what that was either.
- [00:17:54.864]And my advisor, I'm on camera.
- [00:17:59.308](audience laughs)
- [00:18:00.308]Was not as hands on as I would've liked, I think I said
- [00:18:04.187]that well.
- [00:18:05.405]But I had a colleague who was working on a dual degree
- [00:18:11.419]and she had Dr. Judy Perkins for an advisor, so guess what
- [00:18:16.304]Dr. Judy Perkins, you mentored me through my masters
- [00:18:19.849]degree and I don't even think you knew it because everything
- [00:18:23.629]that you would tell Timeko, she would come and explain
- [00:18:27.532]to me, this is how you do a thesis proposal, this is what
- [00:18:30.781]you do for this, this is how you set up a research plan.
- [00:18:34.860]And so she was a peer, but she was that mentor,
- [00:18:40.465]so the champion is kind of that cheerleader that's behind
- [00:18:43.881]you that's pushing you and driving you, the mentor is that
- [00:18:46.970]person who can help shepard you through the process.
- [00:18:51.544]And so you need both of those sorts of people in your life.
- [00:18:54.876]My momma's my hugest champion, she still is today.
- [00:18:58.905]But she can't mentor me through the things that I go
- [00:19:04.094]through because she hasn't experienced those things.
- [00:19:06.379]But your peers, your faculty members, and those folks can.
- [00:19:11.883]And so in the other example of a cheerleader even in my
- [00:19:17.307]old age now as an engineering professional, Dr. Jones.
- [00:19:22.656](laughs)
- [00:19:25.213]He will talk to me about things or I'll hear him say
- [00:19:28.568]something or he'll communicate something to someone
- [00:19:31.239]about me and I'm like wow whoever he's talking about that's
- [00:19:35.209]a pretty cool person.
- [00:19:37.183](audience laughs)
- [00:19:38.286]But he's that cheerleader pushing me to say you know
- [00:19:41.360]you don't see this in yourself still but I see this in you
- [00:19:45.212]and I think you should and then fill in the blank and so
- [00:19:49.393]don't think of it as because I'm a student I need this,
- [00:19:53.084]as a professional I still benefit from those relationships
- [00:19:58.139]in my life.
- [00:20:00.781]So that's kind of an ongoing thing and the other side
- [00:20:03.178]of the coin on the people side of things is, you want to be
- [00:20:07.469]a champion and a mentor to others.
- [00:20:10.895]Because that's where you will really get some fulfillment
- [00:20:14.667]and so don't just say well I have mine, I'm good, I'm going
- [00:20:19.404]on, make sure you're working to help pull other folks
- [00:20:23.644]along with you.
- [00:20:24.761]How many of you saw the movie Hidden Figures?
- [00:20:28.413]Okay the thing that stood out to me most other than
- [00:20:32.944]Taraji P. Henson having to run to the bathroom
- [00:20:35.693]in the rain and get fussed at for not being at her desk,
- [00:20:39.408]but when oh what's her name, Octavia Spencer's character,
- [00:20:46.400]when she decided I'm going to learn how to program
- [00:20:49.513]this computer.
- [00:20:52.799]She didn't say well look I'm going to take care of me,
- [00:20:55.536]she said come on ladies, let's do this.
- [00:20:59.404]And that's how we have to be with each other, come on
- [00:21:01.596]ladies and gentlemen, let's do this, let's get this
- [00:21:05.721]and give yourselves those steps up.
- [00:21:09.598]So I will leave you with that and I will take questions
- [00:21:13.180]and answers, so the four P's what's the first one?
- [00:21:17.772]Planning.
- [00:21:18.780]Planning, the second one?
- [00:21:19.780]Preparation.
- [00:21:21.591]Preparation, the third one?
- [00:21:23.147]Perseverance.
- [00:21:24.146]And the fourth one?
- [00:21:25.388]People.
- [00:21:26.524]People, so please take all four of those with you
- [00:21:28.105]on your journey, thank you.
- [00:21:29.472](audience applause)
The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!
You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.
- Tags:
- ntc
- matc
- nebraska transportation center
- mid-america transportation center
- matc scholars program
- scholars program
- graduate school
- rice university
- yvette pearson
Log in to post comments
Embed
Copy the following code into your page
HTML
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%; overflow: hidden; position:relative; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1;"> <iframe style="bottom: 0; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; border: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%;" src="https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/8657?format=iframe&autoplay=0" title="Video Player: 2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Yvette Pearson" allowfullscreen ></iframe> </div>
Comments
0 Comments