It’s official. I’m ready for winter in Philadelphia. I’ve unpacked my sweaters, scarves, gloves, and most importantly, my heavy down-filled jacket. I know what you’re thinking: “Give me a break! Philadelphia winters are not THAT cold!” Well, for someone that has spent their last two winters in Jordan, temperatures below 40 degrees are unbearable! That being said, I’m confronting the winter months head on! A little snow is not going to get me down! I laugh in the face of ice-covered sidewalks …Ok, so truthfully, my strategy for staying warm this winter is to stay inside as much as possible. Thankfully, Penn offers numerous speakers and lectures that are open to the public. Sometimes, these events feature free food! In case you don’t already know, graduate students love free food and will hunt it down like lions after a wildebeest! The Annenberg School for Communication is known for hosting a number of events each month that attract students from all over campus. On November 27, for instance, I am going to a lecture entitled, “Making News in the Era of Digital Information.” This lecture will be given by Dominic Boyer, a visiting scholar from Cornell University. Because I will be out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m going to unfortunately miss a talk entitled, “Off the Record, The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources.” The speaker, Norman Pearlstine, is talking about his book on the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity. His work is considered controversial, so it should be a very interesting talk! I’m disappointed that I can’t make it. This talk is sponsored by the law school. Fortunately, events like these will keep me indoors, and hence, will enable me to stay warm. But I have to venture outside, I’m ready

Lit Review

There are a number of things student have to do in order to graduate, there are the obvious general ones like take your classes and pass, but there are also some that are more division dependant. As a student at Foundations and Practices division of GSE I am expected to write a 40 page literature review on a topic of my interest in order to be graduate. Penn is a research one university as many of you already know, and training students in the different aspects of research is something our faculty prides itself in. I was a little worried at first during the semester because I had very little background in research, I was mostly concerned with how much guidance we will receive as students starting off a master’s degree. The answer is plenty!
As part of the 10 credit courses one has to take in order to graduate, there is one class specially designed to guide students through the process of doing the research and, formulating their plan to do so. The class is simply numbered 668 and all masters students at FPE planning to graduate by the summer have to take the course this spring. The good thing is however, you don’t really start in the spring! In fact the preparation starts as soon as you start your program. We are assigned 4 classes during the fall semester, a month apart from another. And for each meeting we have a few things assigned in order to get an early start on the literature review. This coming Monday, my first draft of a proposal is due. I’m excited and anxious at the same time. I have my proposal written out, and already consulted some professors as well as literature on the topic which I am working on. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one of my current professors at Penn is huge in the field in which I am working on! Dr. Ingersoll who is currently giving a class at GSE “School and Society” had his name all over the educational journals when I would be searching for literature to review. I have to admit it felt really good to know that.
I will talk more about the proposal I am working on more in the next blog as I would have had someone look over it, and lets face it, no one likes to mess up in public! But what I will be doing for future blogs also is feature some students from GSE and have them talk about certain experiences or issues concerned with university life. I would also love to hear any feed back you as my reader would have on any particular topics you would like me to cover. Once again this Maher Zamel signing off, Penn GSE, Philadelphia! (I am seriously considering a career with CNN after this blogging business)

Registration Time Again

As a student, it feels like it was yesterday that the semester started. It takes a few weeks for us students to get into the habit of things and to adjust to the semester, and before you know it, its registration time once again. As a masters student of educational Leadership studies I belong to Foundations and Practices, one of the 5 divisions we have at the Graduate School of Education. With Educational Leadership, students have to take 10 courses in order to graduate. Although many students manage to get that accomplished in one calendar year (two semesters and a summer session) some students take a little longer because they work or hold full time positions. To be considered a full time student at GSE you need to take 3 courses a semester at least.
As a student of Educational Leadership Studies, there are certain core courses you have to take or options to choose from. The break down goes like this:
Core courses one:
1- Students must take “School and Society” and a research seminar 668.
2- Leadership of Educational Organizations
3- One research Methodology course (quantitative or qualitative)
4- One distribution course outside of Foundations and Practices division.
5- Five elective courses.
I am currently taking School and Society, as well as ethnography, one of the research methodology courses offered. For next Semester, I registered for Leadership of Educational Organizations which will be taught by my advisor Dr. Lytle (one of the greatest people at GSE!) as well as the research seminar. Most students try to get core courses out of the way before the summer sessions. In addition to these two courses I decided to take some other interesting courses such as Schools as Organizations, as well as Adolescent development. Ed Leadership trains students in the discipline of leadership in an effort to prepare us best for the possible positions many of us will fill in the future. So far the first semester for me has been great because in terms of theory my knowledge expanded many folds, something that is extremely useful if you are interested in research or exploring certain aspects of education currently unexplored.

A day in Philly, and a night of Walloween

Today I took a walk through Center City with a friend to get my Halloween costume. It was raining outside, and although I got a little wet, I couldn’t help but think about how cool Philadelphia is. Rain or shine – this place has so much to do. Tonight, for example, I’m heading to this club called Fusion on Second Street for a GAPSA Halloween event. Even though I spend a large chunk of my time studying and working, I can always count on GAPSA to host a social event that allows me to escape for awhile. I won’t describe my costume here, but I will say that it has a cape. Yes, a cape. And no, I’m not Superman.
There are also so many great places to eat in Philadelphia, whatever your budget. The pumpkin pancakes at Philly Diner on 39th and Walnut St. are the best thing about Fall, and luckily the Philly Diner is open 24 hours. I might just have to stop there after the Halloween Party tonight.
I only hope that I’m home early enough to wake up early to go to work tomorrow… We’re having an open house, where I will get to meet several prospective students. If you’re interested in the Graduate School of Education, please consider attending one of these events if you are in the Philadelphia area. We also host recruiting events at other cities, but nothing can compare to getting the experience of visiting Penn in person.

Whoopi on Campus

I was walking down locust walk the other day, and I noticed a few students standing by the corner of 34th street and locust selling tickets to see Whoopi Goldberg. My initial thought was that they probably had a movie showing somewhere, so I didn’t give it much thought. The next day I was having lunch with a friend of mine, and she asked me to join her to see a little thing that Whoopi is hosting on campus! I was a little surprised because I am not use to the idea that real celebrities (in academia or Hollywood) make such visit’s to campus. There are many advantages that I have felt being at this wonderful Ivy League school, but going to Irvine Auditorium and watching her speak and answer questions was something else.
The night started at 8. Everyone had gotten there a little early to find the best seats in the house, but at the end of the day for me, there were no bad seats, the stage is right there in front of you. Everyone walking in was extremely excited. There were undergraduates, graduate, and faculty members. It was my first time walking into Irvine auditorium and I was just so impressed by the architecture and the layout, my friend who’s a Harry Potter fan told me it reminded her of the movie.
The whole event started with a 45 minute stand up routine that was absolutely hilarious. Whoopi essentially gave us her take about politics, economics, and America as she sees it. After the initial stage it was time for a question and answer session. I was not sure how that was going to be conducted, as I am use to going to events in Boston were students post questions online prior to an event and a few get selected to ask when the guest is taking questions. But of course everything is done differently at Penn than anywhere else. There were several microphones spread out through the auditorium. Students walked up and lined behind the mikes when the Q & A session started. There were no sensors on what to ask. You could go up there and simply speak your mind, and hear what our wonderful guest had to say. The surprising thing for me was her ability to make a humorous comment about almost every question asked on the spot. Some questions were geared towards politics and social issues while others were about her career in Hollywood. It was an experience that I will remember for years to come (and brag about to my friends back home!).
This weekend, Jessica (one of my favorite GA’s!) managed to find me tickets for Robert Redford’s movie preview/ Q & A session that I unfortunately was not able to make. I hear it was great, especially that the movie previewed is out released nationwide for another month! For now, I wish you all a good week and hope that you keep reading our blogs to know about Penn, and life in Philadelphia. This is me signing off, see you all next week! (PS please feel free to leave comments on certain things on the blog or email me if you have any questions).

GSE Open House

Last week has been a great week! After steady planning and preparation by many at the School of Education, GSE hosted its first open house of this academic year on Saturday October 6th. It was very successful and helpful for those who attended. As a Graduate Assistant working with admissions, I have been in contact with the people behind the “scenes” as I would like to call it. Through that I have been slowly getting to know how the culture of GSE, and how it works. One thing I have noticed mostly however is the emphasis placed by my superiors on the importance of the prospective student experience as we GA’s do our work.
The Open House on Saturday is not the only one of the year. There are actually 3 more events that are scheduled for this academic year:
1- Thursday, November 15th 2007 from 4pm – 6pm.
2- Tuesday, December 4th 2007 from 5pm to 7pm.
3- Wednesday, May 7th 2007 from 12pm – 2pm.
I personally was on contract last year until the end of July, so I was not able to attend any of the events. This will not have you at a disadvantage in anyway, it’s just a great way to get acquainted with the campus of the university by attending a tour, or meeting some of the faculty associated with your division. In many cases, students end up meeting others who are interested in the same programs. Great way to also get a feel to what type of student is interested in particular field. In my case I was wondering if an undergraduate degree in Education was necessary for me in order to apply or get into the Educational Leadership studies masters program (which I did not have).
If you are going to be in the Philadelphia area for any of these three events in addition to a number of specific division events that I have not listed, do try to attend. If you don’t and still want to talk to someone at GSE or take a tour of campus, email us and schedule one. In any case being proactive about applying to Graduate Schools is the best way to find the perfect school/program for you. I look forward to meeting all of you soon.
Best regards and signing off!

A Graduate Student in an Undergraduate World

I was pondering over the weekend about what topic to cover for this Monday’s entry of my blog. As I was doing so, I went back in my thoughts to a time where I was uncertain exactly about which school to attend for graduate studies. I looked at different programs at different universities, and started to really narrow down what is important to me about the graduate school that I want to attend.
Personally, I wanted a program that trained students for positions of leadership, as I have worked at an American school in the Middle East, and hope to one day be able to be in a position where I can help reform local educational systems. I also wanted a school that was preferably in the North East, as my undergraduate experience at Tufts had me accustomed to a slightly colder weather than what I was use to.
Having narrowed down my search at this point to about 3 schools, I started looking more closely at the culture of each university I was interested in. Because this was my first experience in graduate school, I wanted to find a place that accommodates for the needs of its graduate students, and attends to the many different demands of life in graduate school. Out of all the places I looked at, Penn was perfect! Out of 22 000 students almost half were graduate students! That number popped out of the screen for me because it had many connotations that would just make my graduate experience so much better than other places could.
Out of the 12 schools at Penn, 8 are strictly for graduate level studies. Students from any one of the graduate schools can register for courses at any other. I personally plan on taking a course at Annenberg School of Communication next semester, and hopefully a Wharton business class next fall if my schedule permits. As a graduate student at Penn we also have two supportive organizations, the first being the Graduate Student Center, and the second being GAPSA. The graduate center is this building along locust walk that is strictly for graduate students! With free coffee and a great academic support team for those who need help on a dissertation or research, the Graduate Center is a second home for many students at GSE. GAPSA on the other hand (Graduate and Professional Student Assembly) hosts a number of social, as well educational events. This promotes closeness throughout the graduate student community. There are many free events that are sponcered by GAPSA and the Grad Center taking place through out the year. to get an idea on what is happening for us graduate students on campus, here are two links that I think you will find useful and interesting. Being a graduate student at Penn means a lot more in my opinion that just being there, it’s about building a connection with the people and institution that you are in, and it is simply a great place to be at.

Graduate Student Center:
http://www.gsc.upenn.edu/index.html
GAPSA:
http://www.gapsa.upenn.edu/