On 21 September, I began six months of learning and living at SCANCOR, Stanford’s Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research. My new desk now has a name card, a screen, and plenty of room for questions. Getting settled is a curious process: the cables eventually make sense, while the research questions become more complicated. I take this as a promising start.
I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to audit two PhD workshops: Glenn Carroll’s Designing Social Research and Charles (Chuck) Eesley’s Entrepreneurial Firms, Strategy and Innovation. Glenn’s workshop is already helping me think more carefully about what makes a question worth asking; I look forward to joining Chuck’s discussions. Auditing, I am discovering, offers all the pleasure of being a student, with remarkably little protection from the reading list.
Patricia Bromley’s Tuesday Workshop in Comparative Sociology has been another highlight. Meeting John Meyer in person was especially exciting. There is something delightful about seeing a familiar name from the literature become a person in the room. Institutional theory suddenly feels considerably less abstract—and my enthusiasm considerably less scholarly and composed.
SCANCOR’s own Thursday seminars are deeply rewarding, too. Listening to fellow scholars present their work reminds me how much a research community matters: a question that feels stuck at one desk can begin moving when it reaches another. I am also eagerly anticipating Patricia Bromley’s weekly Monday seminar, beginning on 12 October. My calendar is filling up nicely; my understanding is doing its best to keep pace.
Beyond the workshops, I attended Adam Nash’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders talk and have been exploring campus, from the Huang Engineering Center to Memorial Church. Between conversations, lectures, and walks under the palms, these first weeks have offered plenty to think about—and plenty to photograph.
Six months suddenly seems both generous and very short. I hope to leave with stronger research, new friendships, and better questions. For now, I am enjoying the small privilege of being a beginner again: finding my way around, listening closely, and remembering that learning can be serious work without requiring a permanently serious face.