Navigating Your Ph.D.
Challenges and Strategies for Thriving
(First Edition)
©2025, 228 pages
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Grounded in the authentic experiences of diverse doctoral students, Navigating Your Ph.D.: Challenges and Strategies for Thriving is an invaluable resource tailored for Ph.D. students grappling with the multifaceted aspects of graduate life. Edited by Asia Eaton, the book delivers a tapestry of narratives that embody the complexities Ph.D. students face—from negotiating work-life balance to confronting academic culture. Eaton's insightful curation leads readers through a deeply personal yet universally relevant journey, addressing mental health, financial stability, mentoring, and the art of "managing up."
The book is structured into two sections, with the first exploring work-school-life integration through themes such as moving away from home, navigating health and well-being challenges, and achieving financial literacy during the arduous Ph.D. undertaking. The second section confronts the nuances of academic culture with chapters on managing the transition to different university environments, redefining educational priorities, overcoming cultural mismatches, and mastering the dynamics of mentorship.
Recommended for Ph.D. students across all fields and their advisors, Navigating Your Ph.D. is particularly insightful for those in the early stages of their doctoral journey. With potent reflections, evidence-based recommendations, and positionality considerations woven throughout, it serves as a compelling tool for universities aiming to support, retain, and usher a new wave of scholars toward success.
Contents and Contributors Include:
Preface - Asia Eaton
Part I. Work-School-Life Integration
Chapter 1. Moving Away from Home - Michael Spooner and Atefeh Karimi
Chapter 2. Mental Health in Graduate School – Jasmine Banks and Jessica F. Saunders
Chapter 3. Working While Earning the Doctorate - Danilo Le Sante and Jonathan Spikes
Chapter 4. Navigating the Ph.D. With A Disability - Sergio M. Marquez, Eric Chantland, and Ajay Somaraju
Chapter 5. Managing Family Responsibilities While Earning the Ph.D. - Chelsea Krueger, Francisca Martinez, and Randi Spiker
Chapter 6. Financial Wellness and Challenges During Graduate School - Chantal Martinez and Kate L. Long
Part II. Negotiating Academic Culture
Chapter 7. University Shock: Thriving, Not Simply Surviving Contrasting Cultural Contexts - Christina Soulios and Zharia Thomas
Chapter 8. Revising Your Academic Priorities - Juan Sebastian Castillo and Havi Tran
Chapter 9. Learning Grad School Norms as Working-Class Students - Anna Kallschmidt and Alonzo Johnson
Chapter 10. Selecting and Switching Advisors - Elsa I. Bravo and Gequasha Collins
Chapter 11. Finding Secondary Mentors and Developing Side Collaborations - Sophie Maddocks and Lulu Gomez
Chapter 12. Bullying and Harassment in Graduate School - Anna Kallschmidt, Jaclyn Siegel, and Jessica Saunders
Conclusion - Asia A. Eaton
Index
About the Editor
About the Contributors
The book is structured into two sections, with the first exploring work-school-life integration through themes such as moving away from home, navigating health and well-being challenges, and achieving financial literacy during the arduous Ph.D. undertaking. The second section confronts the nuances of academic culture with chapters on managing the transition to different university environments, redefining educational priorities, overcoming cultural mismatches, and mastering the dynamics of mentorship.
Recommended for Ph.D. students across all fields and their advisors, Navigating Your Ph.D. is particularly insightful for those in the early stages of their doctoral journey. With potent reflections, evidence-based recommendations, and positionality considerations woven throughout, it serves as a compelling tool for universities aiming to support, retain, and usher a new wave of scholars toward success.
Contents and Contributors Include:
Preface - Asia Eaton
Part I. Work-School-Life Integration
Chapter 1. Moving Away from Home - Michael Spooner and Atefeh Karimi
Chapter 2. Mental Health in Graduate School – Jasmine Banks and Jessica F. Saunders
Chapter 3. Working While Earning the Doctorate - Danilo Le Sante and Jonathan Spikes
Chapter 4. Navigating the Ph.D. With A Disability - Sergio M. Marquez, Eric Chantland, and Ajay Somaraju
Chapter 5. Managing Family Responsibilities While Earning the Ph.D. - Chelsea Krueger, Francisca Martinez, and Randi Spiker
Chapter 6. Financial Wellness and Challenges During Graduate School - Chantal Martinez and Kate L. Long
Part II. Negotiating Academic Culture
Chapter 7. University Shock: Thriving, Not Simply Surviving Contrasting Cultural Contexts - Christina Soulios and Zharia Thomas
Chapter 8. Revising Your Academic Priorities - Juan Sebastian Castillo and Havi Tran
Chapter 9. Learning Grad School Norms as Working-Class Students - Anna Kallschmidt and Alonzo Johnson
Chapter 10. Selecting and Switching Advisors - Elsa I. Bravo and Gequasha Collins
Chapter 11. Finding Secondary Mentors and Developing Side Collaborations - Sophie Maddocks and Lulu Gomez
Chapter 12. Bullying and Harassment in Graduate School - Anna Kallschmidt, Jaclyn Siegel, and Jessica Saunders
Conclusion - Asia A. Eaton
Index
About the Editor
About the Contributors
Asia Eaton is a feminist social psychologist and professor of psychology at Florida International University. Her research explores how gender intersects with identities, such as race, sexual orientation, and class, to affect individuals’ access to and experience with power. She is a nationally recognized mentor and considers mentoring diverse Ph.D. students in public psychology to be her primary professional purpose.
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"Navigating Your Ph.D.: Challenges and Strategies for Thriving, edited by Asia Eaton, provides an essential compass for students making their way through doctoral education. Anchored by candid narratives from a diverse array of scholars, it is as personal as it is pragmatic. The book takes a holistic perspective on graduate student life, from mastering the subtle art of 'managing up,' to negotiating the demands of work-life balance, to achieving mental and financial health. Recommended for doctoral students across disciplines, along with their advisors, Navigating Your Ph.D. will help a new generation of scholars find success and wellbeing in the academy. As soon as the book becomes available for purchase, I will order copies for my doctoral advisees. I will also encourage my department to start a new practice of providing copies to all incoming graduate students moving forward."
Dr. Lilia Cortina, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology and Women's & Gender Studies at University of Michigan; Professor (by courtesy) of Management & Organizations
"Dr. Asia Eaton’s book is a needed addition to understanding the student experience within an academic setting. A true gem of this book is that each author is a graduate student who shares their experiences, with vulnerability, so that other graduate students may know they are not alone, and so that those with power in academic programs and institutions may think critically about the graduate student experience. This book can be well used in many ways, one of which is for faculty discussion as one academic year is reviewed, reflected on, and the next is planned for. This book is also applicable to training sites who spend a significant amount of time preparing graduate students to enter the field. In that regard, this book can be well used with training supervisors as they think about the experiences of their students and work to support them in their journey through graduate school and into the profession."
Dr. Shavonne Moore-Lobban, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2023 Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award Winner
"Asia Eaton and the contributors to this volume have provided an accessible resource to support scholars at different stages in their training and professional development. This collection offers chapters on a range of topics that expose the hidden curriculum of academe and the contexts which shape graduate student success. Each contributor, reflective on their own social location, offers personal experiences that weave toward pragmatic advice. This book is a worthwhile addition that offers insight into the many challenges—small and large—graduate students may face."
Dr. Jennifer Reich, Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado Denver, 2023 SWS Feminist Mentor Award winner
Dr. Lilia Cortina, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology and Women's & Gender Studies at University of Michigan; Professor (by courtesy) of Management & Organizations
"Dr. Asia Eaton’s book is a needed addition to understanding the student experience within an academic setting. A true gem of this book is that each author is a graduate student who shares their experiences, with vulnerability, so that other graduate students may know they are not alone, and so that those with power in academic programs and institutions may think critically about the graduate student experience. This book can be well used in many ways, one of which is for faculty discussion as one academic year is reviewed, reflected on, and the next is planned for. This book is also applicable to training sites who spend a significant amount of time preparing graduate students to enter the field. In that regard, this book can be well used with training supervisors as they think about the experiences of their students and work to support them in their journey through graduate school and into the profession."
Dr. Shavonne Moore-Lobban, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2023 Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award Winner
"Asia Eaton and the contributors to this volume have provided an accessible resource to support scholars at different stages in their training and professional development. This collection offers chapters on a range of topics that expose the hidden curriculum of academe and the contexts which shape graduate student success. Each contributor, reflective on their own social location, offers personal experiences that weave toward pragmatic advice. This book is a worthwhile addition that offers insight into the many challenges—small and large—graduate students may face."
Dr. Jennifer Reich, Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado Denver, 2023 SWS Feminist Mentor Award winner
