Dana Takagi
Emerita Professor of Sociology
Rachel Carson College,
University of California, Santa Cruz
MFP Cohort 6, 1979-82
The downstairs offices in Barrows Hall are grim, dirty, windowless, unventilated rooms. That was my first TA office as a graduate student. Ick. I would have access to the shared office as long as I was a TA. In the hallway, just outside my little dungeon of an office, I’m clutching the letter from ASA/MFP. Suddenly, graduate school seemed survivable, and I felt worthy.
The MFP was an enormous boost for completing my graduate studies at UCB. Would I have completed my PhD had I not received support from the MFP? Maybe. Probably. But the financial support was crucial for my staying on track, moving forward in course work, and staying more or less (for Berkeley students) on track with the MA paper, qualifying exams, and dissertation prospectus. Back then, in my graduate program, financial support for grads involved a Darwinian struggle for meager TA-ships, a few RA-ships. These days, given tuition costs, I would guess that the MFP is more vital than ever for graduate studies.
It’s difficult to find the right language to convey the importance of the fellowship—the financial help, the boost in my morale, meeting fellow sociology graduate students, networking at the ASA Annual Meetings. This is a good list… but it is just a start.
Looking back over my time as a professional sociologist, the MFP was a cornerstone of my career. It is difficult to measure in real time the impact of the MFP. But for me, over the course of decades of being an academic, I am forever grateful for support that came at just the right time.
