Chris just started a masters in history at the University of Alberta. In this episode we wanted to give you a peek into his day to day life studying to be a historian. Hopefully you’ll understand a little more what it’s actually like in the fall of 2021 to go to grad school when the pandemic’s still on, the university’s open, and most of your classwork and job are actually in person on campus.

The day starts with meeting Chris and Dylan meeting their supervisor Liza Piper for a reading class to discuss Martin Rudwick’s The Great Devonian Controversy and Donald Worster’s Nature’s Economy.

Chris’ second class is an intro to grad studies in the best room on campus, and classics professor Fran Pownall joins history professor Heather Coleman to talk about the importance of being part of a community scholars by attending conferences.

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After lunch, he has a consult with librarian David Sulz. And the day ends with a get-together in Heather Coleman’s backyard, hearing MJ Manu-Osafo talk about his work.

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Further Reading

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – Thomas S. Kuhn
• The plexiglass barrier problem (Maclean’s, Justin Ling, October 29 2021)

Shout-outs in this episode to the Alberta Association of Optometrists’ Eye See Eye Learn program and the Edmonton Community Foundations’ Vital Signs Initiative.

Correction: In this episode, we call Tory the tallest building on the University of Alberta North Campus. In fact, the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering is now the tallest. Let’s Find Out regrets the error.