Guest Blogger: Jonathan Eskridge

The second of the guest bloggers is someone who really has his act together. I have learned a lot from Johnathan and had the opportunity to travel with him to Vancouver in the fall. Dedication and patience are the two words that come to mind when describing Jonathan. I think that this is something many of my colleagues would agree with. I look forward to many more residencies put together with his attention to detail and architecture.

Here are Jonathan’s thoughts on what a residency is:

As the Cohort Ph.D. Program Director, I spend a great deal of my time and effort during the academic terms building and shaping each residency experience. I work five months and 22 days preparing, scheduling, re-scheduling, and creating activities and workshops for learners to experience while with us. I have no personal experience here, but it’s as close as I can imagine to the experience of having a child (if you are a parent, please disregard my obvious simple notion of “having a child”). After much work, effort, sweat, and tears, the residency is born.

Once the residency begins, my favorite part happens, though. I get to watch. I get to watch faculty offer advice to learners. I get to watch learners offer advice to faculty. I get to watch learners share in ups and downs. I watch people call home to check on their husbands, their wives, their children. I watch people articulating their viewpoints at an intellectual level that no other can compare to. Most importantly though, I get to watch people grow. They grow emotionally, academically, and intellectually. But most importantly, they grow as human beings. Wherever they’ve come from, whatever background they possess, good or bad, they’re here to make their world a better place. The best part in that whole process, though, is that the world they’re trying to make a better place is my world, too.

I count it a blessing be a small part in helping to guide learners down this path of growth.

Jonathan Eskridge

Cohort Ph.D. Program Director