Class Year: Expected graduation, May 2023
Program/major: PhD - Nursing
Previous experience consulting remotely helps PhD student Megan Foradori balance work and life demands during the COVID-19 pandemic. With two young daughters attending school virtually since March 2020, she finds providing support for them during weekdays to be the biggest change, but said the experience has changed her involvement in both professional and personal life.
“The silver lining of the past year has been the opportunity to attend so many fantastic virtual events, presentations, and conferences—certainly more than I could have feasibly done in person,” she said.
Actively engaging in a virtual presence has helped mitigate the “Blursdays,” the feeling when each day at home blends with the day before. Foradori took advantage of the PhD Student Nurses Association’s Friday morning Zoom coffee talks to stay connected with her fellow nursing PhD students.
“In the larger campus community, I've valued the great offerings of Women In Science and Humanities Earning Doctorates (WISHED) and the Graduate Student Council (GSC), I've connected with some new interesting people and added to my toolbox,” she said. “I really stepped up my political activity in the past few months with like-minded nurses and enjoyed working to further causes important to me. And finding ways to connect virtually with my usual community engagements—including volunteering with Girl Scouts, helping with our girls' Parent-Teacher Organization, and being a part of our community library's cookbook club—have all allowed me to recharge during the combined rigor of PhD study and the ongoing social distance of COVID.”