Five Reasons Why I Chose to Pursue a Career in Academia
When I entered graduate school in the Fall of 2006, I knew that I wanted to earn my masters and PhD degrees and then pursue a career as an academic faculty member. Over the course of the 6.5 years that I was in graduate school (2 years to complete my masters degree and 4.5 years to complete my PhD), my goals and ambitions for what type of faculty position I wanted to pursue evolved and changed. By the time I started the PhD phase of graduate school, I had decided that I wanted to pursue a faculty position where teaching was the primary focus. After I graduated with my PhD in 2012, I spent about 2.5 years teaching as an adjunct faculty member, during which time I gained invaluable experience teaching a wide array of courses in the Exercise Sciences (my area of expertise). In 2015, my professional goal became as reality when I earned a tenure track faculty position at Elon University, a mid-sized liberal arts university in Elon, NC. Even better, m...