A brand new book by a Grenfell psychology prof will help women find their way through the often daunting world of graduate studies. 

           Surviving and Succeeding in the Ivory Tower: A Women’s Guide to Negotiating Graduate Studies by Dr. Sonya Corbin Dwyer was released earlier this month.
           Dr. Corbin Dwyer is an associate professor of psychology at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Corner Brook campus, where she teaches social psychology, contemporary issues in personality, psychotherapy, and the psychology of women.
           According to publisher Creative Bound International Inc., her book “gives voice to the experience of graduate women—particularly how they deal with issues of time and financial restraints, sexism, lack of support, and domestic roles and tasks still prescribed by gender—and offers practical suggestions to assist women trying to manoeuvre in that narrow gap between family and student life. Many women reveal the reasons for not continuing in academia, despite their desire to earn an MA or PhD.”
           Dr. Corbin Dwyer said there are two reasons for writing this book.
          “First, it puts research into practice. As a result of listening to the women’s stories, I changed how I worked with my own graduate students. Hearing about the supervisory relationships of participants and issues that impacted their progress in their programs, I felt compelled to examine my own relationships with students and to think about their circumstances outside of the class or my office,” she said. “Secondly, I experienced first-hand the relief women felt after learning that others shared their experiences, and that they were not alone. Many of these women encouraged me to write a guidebook to assist other women to navigate the “Ivory Tower.”
          A public launch of Surviving and Succeeding in the Ivory Tower will be held in October.