I am [name], a third-year international student at the Human Development and Family Sciences doctoral program at the University of Connecticut. After 25 years of professional work with parents in not for profit sector in Turkey, I decided to involve in more research and applied to UCONN to earn a Ph.D. degree in parent-child relationships. I moved to Connecticut, Storrs with my family to continue UConn HDFS Doctoral Program. I have two sons. I work as graduate and teaching assistant in HDFS Department as well.
When I was planning my four years of graduate study at UConn, I also relied on some income that will come from Turkey, such as pension and savings. However, Turkey has undergone through a high inflation rate which led devaluation of Turkish money. Turkish Lira and US Dollar exchange imbalanced and it increased more than %100. These conditions put my budget in a delicate condition. My and my family need to stay here for almost two more years to finish my study, however, it is under risk due to my economic limitations.
I evaluate myself as a successful Ph. D Student. I believe that my grades in my transcript, two fellowships Wood/Raith Foundation Award, 2018, and HDFS Faculty Award, 2018) that I received in UConn, and my supervisor’s letter of recommendation will be the evidence of my success. After 25 years of professional work on parent education in a non-governmental organization in Turkey, I am so enthusiastic about reading more theory and research and writing about my ideas and work on research questions for the benefit of disadvantaged families. Bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and research-based evidence with the applied work reaching the parents and children is needed. I am one of the scholars that targets bridging the gap between scientific knowledge with real-life conditions.
In Turkey, I worked with economically disadvantaged families from different geographies and ethnicities and refugees in either urban or rural settings. Here, in US, I had the opportunity to relate with mothers and fathers in parent education courses in Hartford. I had the opportunity to compare the needs, perspectives, and programs between different communities and cultures. So, I can confidently say that I had the experience of working with diverse cultural settings.
According to the life course theory of human development, I am not a young student, I am in a middle-age period which means you need to struggle to explain and convince all your close milieu about why you want to study more. When they heard about your study plans, usually they look at you and ask the question “After this age is it worth to spend your time in that much studying to get a doctoral degree?” My answer was “yes” and still doing. Unfortunately, “ageism” is one of the biases in our modern societies.
Especially being an older woman as compared to an older man is more demanding in terms of overcoming the prejudices. As a mid- age student (52), UCONN showed me great support by accepting me to the HDFS Ph.D. program. I did not feel any overt or implicit discrimination based on my age in the department; on the contrary, I always had the feeling of being supported by the department and by my professors. However, oe of the very few mid-aged women even among graduate students; I believe the power of being visible on the campus and involve in the classes of undergraduates as a model for the students. Life-long learning is a fact and may change your lives and enable you to change your career to be beneficial for the society. Moreover, it might make you a happier and self-actualized person.
As a last word, I need financial support to continue my study two more school years. I believe that as an international student coming from a developing country and at the same time being a mid-age woman who aims to advance herself in her career, I fit your selection criteria.
