On her website, Jennifer Nery, a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy, includes an abbreviated CV with an overview of her interests, sites where undergraduate students can find guidance on how to read philosophical articles and write papers, and links (for her use and yours) to her brother's web page, her favorite web pastimes, and Columbiana, Ohio, her hometown and the antiques capital of northeastern Ohio.

"I wanted to have the first inklings of a professional website," Jennifer says, but she also had a point to make: "I'm a person who doesn't think that philosophy should be one's whole life. I wanted to show the way I am."

The way Jennifer is, following the order on her website, is first and foremost a student of philosophy. When Jennifer set out as an undergraduate philosophy major at Smith College, she "somehow forgot philosophy wasn't practical," she says. Her junior year was spent at University College of London, where undergraduates take courses only in their chosen field of study. Through this immersion in philosophy, Jennifer says, "I started to see the kinds of conversations that were going on in philosophy."

After traveling for a couple of years doing odd jobs, Jennifer resumed her philosophical studies at St. Andrew's in Scotland, just down a short street from the rather famous golf course. She finished her master's degree there before coming to UCLA for doctoral work. Although she had looked at East Coast colleges, "when I evaluated schools regardless of geography, UCLA came out on top," she says. In particular, she was happy to find a wide range of interests among a well-respected faculty. She brought to UCLA an interest in mind, metaphysics, epistemology, and perception—"you have to know how you perceive in order to know how you think and also know how you know," she says—but she hasn't settled on a subject area for her dissertation.

That's fine with the Department of Philosophy, where graduate students are encouraged to take the first two years to get the lay of the land: "The PhD program in philosophy is going to introduce students to a level of demand on their creativity that they probably haven't encountered before," says graduate student adviser and Professor Barbara Herman. "That's true even for students with an extensive philosophy background."

Jennifer started with a seminar for all first-year students—seven in 2001 (the department takes only the number of students it can fully fund for the first year)—that is a survey of philosophy. "We read a lot of articles fairly quickly," Jennifer says, "looking to get a grasp of the important ideas." Each student made regular presentations on assigned articles, and all participated in discussions. "We got really comfortable with each other," Jennifer says. "We felt very welcome to speak up, and we became more sure of ourselves."

While this was her third time around with many of the subjects, Jennifer says, "One thing about philosophy is you never get to the bottom of anything. Even if I were being taught the same exact reading in the same exact way—and of course this isn't true—I would get something more out of it every time."

Doctoral studies in philosophy also add a new perspective to the subject: the business of philosophy. At UCLA, Jennifer is in training for a career, learning how the academic world is organized, how to find a job, and, most important perhaps, how to teach philosophy. Last fall, Jennifer took a course in teaching and began her work as a teaching assistant to Professor Herman in Introduction to Ethics. The second area on her website is a list of suggested readings for students in her section. Jennifer chose this ethics course because it involves a lot of writing. "I've seen a lot of people who've come out of college and still can't write an essay," she says. "It weighs heavily on their self-esteem. I feel very strongly about teaching people these skills."

Jennifer's students "have real comfort and rapport with her," Professor Herman says. Trusting that there's a good reason for Jennifer's assignments, Professor Herman says, students approach the tasks "with seriousness and the kind of goodwill that's hard-earned, especially for a first-time TA."

The last part of Jennifer's website is devoted to her outside interests. Her first year at UCLA, she spent a lot of time at the Wooden Center, playing volleyball, doing yoga, and learning belly dancing, an interesting hobby for someone whose work involves contemplating the navel.

Jennifer has also been appointed "co-czar/czarina" of the Philosophy Department's social life, helping to organize its Halloween party, for example. Last fall, she organized a tea for graduate students, with colleagues from classics and art history also invited. "It wasn't difficult to sell the idea," she says. "Our department is pretty good about recognizing that we have social lives."

"Jennifer has an extraordinary amount of energy and enthusiasm," says Professor Herman. "There's nothing about her that's retiring or held back—it's lovely." Jennifer may be somewhat less introverted or bookish than more typical philosophy students, Professor Herman adds, "but she's not one wit less serious."

Published in Winter 2003, Graduate Quarterly