When students take on the challenge of obtaining a doctorate, they know that it will be a big commitment. Between coursework, examinations and ultimately, the dissertation, doctoral programs require time, dedication, and focus, which can be difficult to balance with all the distractions of modern life. For one UTulsa graduate student, it took more than just the average amount of discipline to push through to the finish line.
Blake Connelly (Ph.D. ’21) knew about The University of Tulsa long before he applied to its graduate program, having grown up in Tulsa and knowing a few friends who attended as undergraduate students. Connelly was inspired to apply to UTulsa’s doctorate in English literature program because he taught high school English and had recently began teaching AP literature, hoping one day to teach at the college level. But he knew between teaching at Jenks Public Schools and his family life, earning a doctorate would be daunting.
“Having already earned two master’s degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, I knew the level of commitment needed to succeed in grad school,” Connelly said, “but a doctorate is a completely different level, especially while working full-time.”
Connelly credits the support of UTulsa’s Department of English & Creative Writing and its faculty as crucial to his success navigating the program. Because of his full-time schedule teaching, Connelly had to enroll as a part-time student, taking classes and doing coursework when he could. With his wife, Courtney, Connelly was also raising a young child, Elliot, now a teenager at Jenks. Another major life event, which occurred during the program in 2014, was the life and death of their son, Silas, after whom the SILAS program at Hillcrest Medical Center is named. The COVID-19 global pandemic complicated matters even further.
“The English Department was so wonderful at helping me to manage all of my course work and comprehensive exams and then writing my dissertation. I was one of the only part-time doctoral students, and UTulsa was great at allowing me time and space to complete my degree part-time.”
He thanked two English professors who were particularly helpful for him during his journey through the program: Laura Stevens, former department chair, who helped him through the application process, and Jennifer Airey, dean of the Graduate School and, eventually, Connelly’s dissertation adviser, who “went above and beyond to accommodate my weird schedule and part-time status.” In addition, Connelly was awarded a Nieta M. Pinkerton fellowship to fund dissertation research in England.
“At no time did I feel like I was a lesser student since I was going part-time or was significantly older than most of my colleagues,” he added.
Being a student again, Connelly said, gained him a lot of credibility with his own students, since he could commiserate with them over assignments and deadlines. While he was in the doctoral program, Connelly was also named Jenks Public Schools District Teacher of the Year.
“The biggest surprise about going back was how much I enjoyed being in the classroom as a student and the satisfaction I felt at this major life accomplishment,” he concluded. “It has fulfilled a lifelong goal of earning a doctorate and becoming an expert in the field of British Romanticism, which helps to inform my teaching of British Literature at Jenks High School as well as AP English literature.”