Jocelyn Parkhurst, Ph.D. -- President and Executive Director of Changing Tides
Welcome to the moment where you take charge of your life and change the tide towards achieving your dreams. It is never too late to further your education and have the life you want.
When I was 29 years old, I found myself with three small children, in an abusive marriage, and stuck in jobs that had no advancement potential as I had never finished high school, only having earned a GED. Looking at my newborn daughter, I knew I had to do something to change my situation. Looking around at the world, I realized that women had not achieved the equality in the United States that many people believed, and certainly not in most other countries. Yet, I had no idea how to change things. I decided to go back to school to study political science in order to help myself, my daughter, and women in the US and around the world.
As I progressed through my studies, I found that some teachers and professors were more helpful than others in facilitating my academic efforts. Especially in graduate school, being older, a mom, and a large woman who did not fit the mold of the young white male graduate student, I often found myself alone, working to navigate a system that I did not understand.
Through my experiences and the experiences I heard from others, I realized that finding, understanding, and completing academic degrees, whatever the level, was not the same for adults and at risk groups as it was for traditional students. Single parents, older students, first generation college students, and those from marginalized groups in the US often had needs different from traditional students not usually understood by administration and faculty.
My desire to help women transformed into helping those groups I saw as being at risk of living in poverty. Changing the tides of apathy and ignorance towards populations of people in the US and globally who do not have access to the power levels of the economy and political world can only be done by advocating access to higher education for more people in ways that does not mean decades of loan repayment or useless degrees.
In these pages you will find information, tools, experiences and hope that will help you achieve your dreams. Don’t get me wrong. I am not going to give you anything. You will earn for yourself every inch of your education. I only offer insight, information, opportunities and experiences from those who have been there.
In addition to the webinars on the website, I also conduct face to face workshops on the topics listed, as well as several others. The workshops are usually two to four hours long, but can be condensed or combined to fit your group or organization’s needs. I conduct the workshops at no charge, but all travel and supply costs must be picked up by the group or organization setting up the workshop. Please contact me at my phone or email for more information or to set up a workshop.
