Three hosts on what no doctoral handbook covers.
Doc101 puts three hosts, Dr. Linnea Rademaker, Dr. Peter Williams and Dr. Scott Self, in loose conversation about the doctorate as lived experience rather than a checklist. Graduates and faculty guests join them to talk through epistemic humility, self-taught statistics, friendships that change during a degree and the work of calming a worried mind.
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Doc101 is about the doctorate as it is actually lived: the thinking, the doubt, the relationships, and the slow change in how a person understands what they know. Three hosts lead it: Dr. Linnea Rademaker, Dr. Peter Williams and Dr. Scott Self. Their rapport is loose and teasing. One recording begins with the others ribbing Peter about his post-nasal drip. Guests shape most episodes. Some are graduates reflecting on the road they took, such as Joan Otten, now Director for Advanced Academics at KDISD in Texas, and Jason Titus, a PhD graduate of Texas Christian University. Others bring a faculty view, as when Alexandra Babino, an assistant professor of bilingual education at Texas A&M Commerce, joins to think through research paradigms. That conversation shows how far into epistemology the show will go. It moves from interpretivism, and how one person's truth can become a group's normative one, to a reminder that the strongest predictor in a regression is not the only one. It ends on a line worth keeping: a finished dissertation makes someone an expert in the conversation about a phenomenon, not the person who understands it best. Other episodes stay closer to the ground. In 'Episode 47: Being Trained To Be A Colleague', a guest recalls entering a PhD with little research experience. The talk then turns to teaching yourself basic statistics when a course forces the issue, and to master's programs that carry no research at all. Joan's episode lingers on the isolation of original research, where every breakthrough is yours alone, and on why so many students stall at all but dissertation. The emotional side gets room too. In 'Episode 45: Managing the Monkey Mind' the hosts compare how they handle a panic or worry brain, from electronic task lists to stepping away to cook, and admit they are not counselors. With Jason Titus, the talk reaches the hidden curriculum: who a program is built for, who it quietly leaves out, and how friendships can deepen, shift or break over the course of a degree. Personal history comes in openly. Faith backgrounds come up in more than one episode, including two hosts' own experiences with religious fundamentalism. In another episode Linnea introduces her child, Emerson Lenea Graham, and Emerson's fiancé, Sienna Lloyd, and pronouns become an important thread of the discussion. The format bends around all of this. The hosts say plainly that some conversations get so absorbing they forget to start the show, and they release those recordings anyway. 'Episode 48: Is It Though?' is a good place to start, since the drifting and the depth both show up there.
Made for: Suits a listener working toward a doctorate, or weighing one, who wants honest talk about research thinking, isolation and stress alongside the academic work. It also fits anyone curious about how doctoral study reshapes a person's relationships and sense of what they know.
What sets it apart: Doc101 treats doctoral study as much a matter of philosophy and personal history as of process, ranging from epistemic humility and research paradigms to worry, faith and family. Its hosts are open about letting conversations wander, and they keep episodes where they forgot to start the show.
A podcast for doctoral students, with special attention to some of the "soft skills" necessary to earn one's degree. New episodes publish every other Monday.
Chapter four can wait; even your table of contents counts as progress.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid look at doctoral study as intellectual formation, social revision, and a test of where work ends and worth begins.
Doctoral education comes through as a reshaping of the student's intellectual map and social world. Jason Titus describes study as a way of seeing hidden curriculum, exclusion, and the power structures beneath them more clearly.
A careful doctoral conversation about how data becomes doctrine, and why research needs humility.
Doc Student 101 frames a loose discussion of research paradigms around a sharp question: how do beliefs harden into group norms, and then into claims about truth? The hosts move from reflections on religious fundamentalism into Dr.
Doctoral research grows through mentorship, practice, and staying open to what experience teaches.
Doctoral training comes across as less a clean credentialing path than a gradual build toward research confidence. Daniel Chadbourne recalls entering a PhD with limited research experience, then finding momentum through work with Dr.
A candid look at becoming a researcher after years of being a successful student.
Doctoral study finds its real pressure point here: a strong student has to let go of simply earning A's and learn how to become a researcher. Joan Otten, Director for Advanced Academics at KDISD in Texas and a recent graduate, describes being pushed by Dr.
A candid, practical conversation about switching tasks when dissertation work exceeds the focus available.
Doctoral work can stall in the body as much as the mind: the page gets reread, the problem keeps looping, and chapter analysis asks for more focus than is available. This episode is strongest when it treats that state plainly and offers a workable pivot.
Campus radio from the wrong side of reality.
Campus decisions, Northeast news, and Northeast priorities.
How research culture changes in practice.
Conversations from inside the IT channel.
Jason Titus, a PhD graduate of Texas Christian University and associate director in housing at TCU, describes doctoral work in Curriculum Studies as "a journey" that changes people in unpredictable ways.
A dissertation can make you an expert in the conversation, not the whole phenomenon.
Doc Student 101 brings together hosts Dr.
Joan Otten, a recent Doc Student 101 graduate and Director for Advanced Academics at KDISD in Texas, says her doctorate changed when she stopped treating it like “just getting the DR.” Linnea Rademaker and Peter Williams helped her through an “hour and a half” parking-lot conversation that turned a “brick wall” into an “aha moment.” She says the program shifted her from grades and silos into iteration, dissertation thinking, and “self pride.” Her theory breakthrough came when Maslow’s hierarchy stopped looking like a pyramid and started looking like “these things all touching each other.”
Doc101’s “Managing the Monkey Mind” connects Dr.
Doc Student 101's Dr.
Oscar Ramos, an executive pastor and former McNair Scholars Program director, describes how family needs and work repeatedly delayed his doctorate.
Richard Romedias says doctoral students should use research literature to find a gap, not arrive with a conclusion they want to prove.
Hosts introduce guests who are family members and discuss pronouns and daily life, setting up a conversation about personal and academic topics.
A conversation with faculty about finding peace with being good enough in a doctoral program, balancing responsibilities, and completing a PhD.
This episode discusses finding community and overcoming isolation in doctoral programs, featuring interviews with faculty who recently completed their doctorates.
Hosts discuss empowering doctoral students with Dr.
Hosts and a guest expert discuss the purpose and process of conducting literature reviews for doctoral students.
Hosts discuss releasing an early episode about doing a dissertation during a crisis and welcome back a co-host.
Hosts discuss the importance of writing as a thinking process and the challenges of teaching critical thinking to doctoral students.
Hosts discuss the challenge of balancing work and life as a doctoral student, emphasizing the high dropout rate.