Arnel Francis

  What Became of the Ph.D.? In March 2014, I wrote a blog post I called “Ph.D. Calling.” I ended it with a question: I ask now not how one becomes a Ph.D., but what is to become one? At that time, I did not know how literally life would ask me to answer it. Not long afterward, I left my full-time position as Associate Professor at Ateneo de Davao University. I had already found my place there. I was teaching in the Language Department and the Graduate School, handling courses in language learning theories, research, discourse analysis, and Japanese. I had also begun mentoring doctoral students who were wrestling with their own dissertations. After years of studying, teaching, and trying to prove that I deserved a place in academe, I had finally reached a position that looked secure. Then I left. It was not because I had stopped loving the university. Nor was it because another academic opportunity was waiting for me somewhere else. I left because my youngest son had chosen a differ...