[background music]
Colin Quinn: My name is Colin Quinn, and I'm
a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology.
My research focuses on the organization of
communities in mining districts in Romania.
I chose U of M for one reason, and that was
the graduate student body.
I felt that the colleagues that I was going
to develop here were going to be lifelong
friends and challenging me to become a better
scholar and a better person.
There's one thing that our program here at
Michigan does, and that's ask big questions.
By being able to ask those big questions,
you get the support to answer those big questions.
We can position ourselves to be much stronger
candidates on the job market and to contribute
more broadly outside of academia to larger
questions and larger issues that are impacting
our society today.
I've described the way Rackham's funding has
supported me as being there at all the critical
junctures.
My first pilot research, I had funding to
be able to collect that data to make me eligible
for the larger national grants.
At every point, it's been pushing me to become
a better scholar within academia, but also
bringing that scholarship and engaging with
the larger community outside of academia.
When I complete the dissertation, my hope
is to be hired at an academic institution.
I feel like I've got the skill set to be successful
at any school, from a teaching-heavy liberal
arts school to a top-tier research university.
I feel like I've developed that skill set
here from both teaching and from research
to be able to be a productive scholar at any
kind of institution.
My name is Colin, and I am Rackham.
