Inaugural Doctoral Convocation Welcomes New Scholars to Stony Brook

Stony Brook University's first doctoral convocation on August 17 welcomed members of an incoming class with approximately 400 new students. Photos by John Griffin.

Beginning a PhD can feel like stepping into the unknown. At Stony Brook University's inaugural Doctoral Convocation, incoming doctoral students heard a message from university leaders and a fellow scholar who has already traveled that road: The journey will challenge you, but you do not have to make it alone.

Held in the Sidney Gelber Auditorium in the Student Activities Center, the August 17 convocation welcomed members of an incoming class with approximately 400 new doctoral students expected to begin their studies at Stony Brook this fall. The event gave students a chance to consider the challenges and relationships that will shape the upcoming years.

"As you pursue this degree, you will have moments where you question your path to the doctorate," said Celia Marshik, dean of The Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education. "You will also have moments where you have immense pride at what you have accomplished. I am here today to tell you that Stony Brook will be with you every step of the way."

Marshik reminded students that only about 2 percent of American adults hold a doctoral degree and fewer than 1 percent of adults worldwide have earned a PhD.

Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith.

Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith spoke of her own path a PhD, telling students that she had worked as a waitress while attending college and later became fascinated by wireless communications while working as an engineer in Silicon Valley. When she decided to pursue graduate study, Stanford rejected her. She would later teach there.

At the University of California, Berkeley, a faculty member saw potential in her that she had not yet fully seen in herself. "He believed in my potential before I did and before many others around me did," Goldsmith said. "And that gave me the chance to prove to him and to myself that I could be successful as a PhD student."

There would be similar moments of doubt for the students in the room, she said, from experiments that fail to equations that refuse to yield an answer. Her advice was to resist the temptation to navigate those moments alone.

"Actively seek out mentors. And not just one," Goldsmith said. "Don't try to be successful in your doctoral studies on your own. Build a support system around you."

Executive Vice President and Provost Carl Lejuez.

Executive Vice President and Provost Carl Lejuez continued the theme with another story of rejection. It took him three years to get into graduate school, he said, and he was rejected from Stony Brook's psychology PhD program three times.

Lejuez encouraged students to think not only about what they hope to accomplish but also about the environment in which they will thrive. He also pointed to faculty mentors across Stony Brook and the many ways they support doctoral students academically, professionally and personally. "What makes a university special is its doctoral students and the way in which they are changing the world," he said.

Meroona Gopang, a doctoral student in public health, grew up near the Indus River, which she described as a river that for thousands of years has carried different faiths, languages and communities along its banks. She came from a place where pursuing a doctorate could seem like "a far-fetched dream for a woman," she said, and became the first woman in her family to pursue one.

"Today you are standing at the edge of your own river," Gopang told the incoming students. "And I'm not here to tell you it is shallow. It is not. But I am here to tell you it can be crossed because I have crossed it badly and unevenly. And I am still standing."

Her own crossing included changing advisers, switching fields and starting over. Her funding ran out at a critical point, and visa challenges forced her to leave the country during her PhD, unsure whether she would be able to return to finish what she had started.

"None of it broke me," she said. "It tested me."

Gopang spoke about uncertainty, which she said does not necessarily disappear as doctoral students progress. Instead, the questions change for students throughout doctoral studies, from wondering whether they belong to wondering whether their research will ultimately matter. "The goal was never to eliminate it," she said of uncertainty. "The goal is to hold uncertainty without being held hostage."

Like Goldsmith, she urged students to find more than one person to guide them. "Do not put the weight of your mentorship on one set of shoulders," she said. "No single advisor can be your only guide." Her advice was to "build a constellation, not a single star."

"This campus is full of resources, but they will not walk through your door uninvited," Gopang said. "You must be the one who knocks." She also reminded students that they did not need to leave their sense of self behind to become scholars. "You do not need to become someone else to become a scholar. And you do not have to cross the whole river today."

Academic leaders from across the university offered their own advice to incoming student scholars.

Celia Marshik, dean of The Graduate School.

David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, reassured students experiencing imposter syndrome. "You should be here, and we're proud of you," he said.

Robert Kukta, associate dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, encouraged students to accept failure as part of the research process. "You don't ask if an experiment will fail, but rather, when it fails, what is my next move?"

Paul Shepson, dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, described a PhD as "an adventure, a bold exploration," while Peter Igarashi, dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine, emphasized the importance of working across academic boundaries. "Science is a team sport, and the most exciting and unexpected discoveries often arise at the interface between seemingly unrelated disciplines," Igarashi said.

Shari Miller, dean of the School of Social Welfare, asked students to pause and remember the significance of where they were. "Mark this moment," she said. "You are starting your doctoral degree. That's massive. It's huge." She encouraged them to hold onto whatever had inspired them to pursue doctoral study and never be afraid to ask questions. "Your voice matters."

Patricia Bruckenthal, dean of the School of Nursing, looked to the people sitting beside the students as another source of support. When she entered her own doctoral program in 1999, her cohort of six promised one another, "We will stick together. No one is going to fail." More than two decades later, they still get together.

Lisa Benz Scott, executive director of the Program in Public Health, remembered another feeling familiar to many new doctoral students: wondering whether the admissions committee had made a mistake.

They had not, she assured them. "You met the criteria. You shined," Benz Scott said. "You can do this."

In closing, Marshik asked students to think about their doctoral journey. This time, she asked them to picture its end. She described the doctoral regalia worn by the academic leaders on stage and invited students to imagine themselves at Stony Brook's doctoral hooding ceremony, when their advisers will place doctoral hoods over their shoulders.

"I look forward to having you on stage with us for that meaningful moment and to celebrate the end of your doctoral journey with you," she said. "You are now launched on your doctoral journey," Marshik told them. "We can't wait to see what's ahead for you."

- Beth Squire