leaving beautiful Knoxville for Wonderful Louisville!
It has been four years since I moved to Knoxville to start the PhD program – and it seems just like yesterday in so many ways. I still remember the first day of the PhD orientation at Tennessee – I just arrived the night before and was a bit jet lagged still from my time in South Africa. I definitely had a trend during all of my college years on having very little time to adjust to a new program – most time I had was three weeks. But, I remember walking into orientation and listening to the professors and fellow doctoral students talk about their classes, research, comp exams, and the dissertation process. A lot of it was very exciting – but at the same time – I realized that it was going to be a lot of hard work and dedication on my part. However, I made the decision to embrace the opportunities and challenge ahead!
Fast forward four years – a lot has changed for me personally and professionally. I am amazed with how much I grew not only as a researcher, but also as a person during my time in Tennessee. It was a very busy four years for me, but I felt that it was definitely worth every penny. I look back and see how much I was able to do in terms of working on projects and grants, presentations both academically and professionally, teaching experience, and travel – it still amazes me. 🙂 I really did not have any down time on my hands, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Here are some of the highlights of my times in Tennessee:
- Traveling to international conferences: I really got the travel bug again when I went to South Africa for my internship at USC, and I was very excited to see the possibilities of presenting research abroad. The first conference I went to was in China at the Reputation Institute Annual Conference. This was truly an eye opener for me on the possibilities to research and present / network with fellow professionals. I truly enjoyed exploring each location and learning about the culture. This first international conference trip lead to others during the PhD program including conferences in Amsterdam, Greece, and Brazil.
- Teaching courses in PR: I was able to fulfill one of my dreams to become a professor and teach courses in PR during my time in Tennessee. I had the opportunity to teach both PR Cases and PR Principles, while also helping out with the Social Media course as well. In addition, I had the opportunity to start working with WVU in teaching for their online IMC graduate program. I came to the conclusion very early on that this was exactly what I wanted to do and thoroughly enjoyed teaching and mentoring students both online and offline.
- Becoming Dr. Freberg… well, at least Dr. Freberg 2.0: One of my lifelong dreams was to get the PhD, and this was clear very early on in my life – even before I went to college. I always knew that I wanted to do this, and walking across the stage and being addressed as Dr. Freberg was one of the proudest moments of my life. It definitely ranks up there for winning CA state in high school and competing at the Olympic trials for me.
- Establishing reputation as a scholar in PR and social media: The last four years have been a great growing experience for me, and in many ways – it does remind me of my high school track career. First year was all about learning the ropes and gaining a foundation of both theory and practice in PR, but also exploring new possibilities for networking opportunities and research. Second year was all about presenting to the field and building a reputation for research and practice in the field. This year was filled with taking courses that really made me push the limit and required hard work and dedication, and the third year was about refining and again establishing my research line – all while teaching and of course taking comps. 🙂 Fourth yearwas all about teaching, research, and the dissertation (which I called “Bruce Lee.”) I also had the chance to work on some great grant projects focusing on social media while also contributing and presenting at some great professional conferences.
- Making lifelong friends: One of the highlights for me about Knoxville are the people I got to meet and know during my time at Tennessee. These individuals helped me so much along the way by providing insights and best practices they have learned along the way in the PhD program, to offers to get a cup of coffee to talk about what was going on. The network and community built at Tennessee was very positive, and I was very fortunate to meet some extraordinary individuals during my time in Knoxville. I have to give thanks to my friend Angela for being a great mentor for me when I first got to Tennessee – what a great friend! 🙂 I also have to thank Sabrina and Monica for always getting together for coffee and organizing great activities from zorbing to movies to cooking and traveling to NC or VA. I was always able to count on Stephanie for great activities to get together for the movies to hang out. Thanks friends! 🙂
- Exploring TN: I had the chance to really enjoy my time learning about TN and seeing the sites – from Nashville to see a country music concert to driving down to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery to spending time in the Smoky Mountains to go zorbing, see the aquarium, and take old time pictures. All of these experiences allowed me to explore the state and learn about the culture as well – it was all very exciting and enlightening for me.
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