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The Scarlet & Black

The Scarlet & Black

Day in the Life: Professor Sarah Purcell

Photo+by+Eve+Lyons-Berg
Photo by Eve Lyons-Berg

Sarah Purcell - Eve Lyons-BergDirector, Rosenfield Program
Professor of History

5:42 a.m. — Alarm goes off. This is too early for Lady Gaga.
6:00 a.m. — Get up, shower, cook breakfast, walk Bruno the Chihuahua.
7:00 a.m. — Wrap a few Christmas presents while my dear husband, Hugh, shovels the driveway.
7:20 a.m. — Leave Oakland Acres for Mears Cottage.
7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. — Check email & get ready for political history seminar, two cups of coffee.
8:30 a.m.-9:50 a.m. — Listen to seminar students present their research on the Tripolitan War, Emma Willard, Haitian refugees and Ohio frontier politics. Good job!
10:00 a.m. — Meet with several students in Macy House, sign some off-campus study applications, talk about paper revisions.
11:00 a.m. — Seminar paper peer-review conference.
11:45 a.m. — Finish some letters of recommendation (while I should be at the Social Studies division meeting, drat!) Lunch at desk. Cup of coffee.
12:15 p.m. — Check in with Rosenfield Program Coordinator Laureen Van Wyk about plans for Friday, Jan. 20 MLK Jr. Day speaker Isabel Wilkerson. Should be a big event!
12:45 p.m. — Class in ARH. Talk about the Mexican War, Henry David Thoreau, democracy and civil disobedience. Lose voice.
2:30 p.m. — Back to Macy House office for another seminar paper peer review conference.
3:30 p.m. — Emails, two more cups of coffee.
4:15 p.m. — Meet with two colleagues for our Scholarly Women’s Activity Group—think hard about scholarly productivity. (It’ll have to wait for another day!)
5:30 p.m. — Relocate to Lonnski’s for another peer review paper conference. Drink coffee, eat salad and ‘tots while talking with students.
6:15 p.m. — Hang out with Elizabeth Prevost [History], Mike Guenther [History] and their daughter Grace at Lonnski’s for a few minutes in between appointments.
6:30 p.m. — Seminar paper peer review meeting. By now, my voice sounds like a rabid frog.
7:00 p.m. — Husband arrives at Lonnski’s to join me and students and eat a cheeseburger. (I drink more coffee—decaf.)
7:15 p.m — Laugh when husband suggests I might be “coddling” students by meeting at Lonnski’s. They react by reading out loud some rather critical paper comments and assure him NO coddling is occurring!
8:00 p.m. — Home for the night. Wrap a few more Christmas presents while watching “Big Bang Theory” on DVR.
9:00 p.m. — Admit I’m sick and go to bed. Dream of paper conferences … and coffee.

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