President Merten
Shares Life, Learning Lessons with Ph.D. Students
In a rare visit with SPP doctoral
students and faculty on April 28, GMU President Alan
Merten spoke about learning, his own ascension to
success and life after graduate school.
During
an interview several days after the event,
Merten explained the goals of his speech,
which he gave
at Mason Hall: “In meeting with SPP’s
doctoral students, I thought I could give them
a perspective on not only understanding what
they should be doing as Ph.D. students but on
what they should be doing afterwards, as well.
Too often in our education system, people get
stuck on the next hurdle – on getting
a degree -- instead of thinking about what
they
might confront later.” During the speech, students
and faculty appreciated President Merten’s
candor as he shared stories about his own career
path. “What was most interesting about
how President Merten spoke to us was not in what
he said, but in how he approached the presentation,” said
doctoral student Gretchen Ehle, adding, “He
relied heavily on learning through his inter-personal
relationships, and how each of these relationships
and interactions impacted his life, and his ascension
into the presidency.” |
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GMU President Alan
Merten |
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Merten’s visit resulted from a conversation
between him and SPP
Professor Stephen Fuller. When
Merten mentioned his desire to get to know Mason’s
Ph.D. students, Fuller invited the President to his
Doctoral Colloquium (PUBP 850 class). “I thought
the opportunity would give me insight into the nature
of students these days,” explained Merten,
who used to spend a lot more time with doctoral students
when he was a professor at the University of Michigan
during the 70s and early 80s, first teaching computer
science and later teaching information systems courses
to business school students. Later, he was promoted
to associate dean.
Fuller added, “The
objective of the Doctoral Colloquium is to expose
SPP doctoral
students to
a wide range of public policy research and to the
research process. Having President Merten discuss
his academic experiences and the lessons he has learned
over his distinguished academic career, as a doctoral
student, teacher, consultant, dean,
and university president has helped to provide our
students with unique insights that may help them
better shape and manage their own academic or professional
careers.”
SPP
Professor James Pfiffner was intrigued by the details President Merten offered
about his professional
life during his speech. “President Merten’s
talk was very engaging because he talked about his
own personal experience over the course of his career
and the lessons that he had learned. He told us about
incidents in his professional life from which he
drew lessons that helped guide his career. So it
was very useful to our Ph.D. students and interesting
to the faculty and staff at the event.”
Merten seemed equally impressed
with the audience members, with whom he mingled
during a reception
following the event. “Their ability to think
beyond the present struck me,” said Merten,
adding, “From their questions and the looks
on their faces, I could tell that they appreciated
the longer view... There’s a stereotype that
Ph.D. students are just worried about getting degrees
but these SPP students possessed a broader and longer
view of the world.” |
