Earl Shaffer Mentors a Ph.D.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article by recently-minted Ph.D. and now assistant professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, John Hatcher. It's titled "Writing With My Boots on" and is dated 8 March 2007.

He mostly writes about how a lot of scholarly work -- especially a dissertation -- is possible only through daily determined effort.

And he writes that he drew inspiration during his own recent dissertation work from Earl Shaffer. "I had become intrigued with Shaffer in the spring of 2005 when I spent a week hiking the Appalachian Trail with my stepfather. He has hiked the entire length of what is affectionately called the AT, and he gave me a copy of Shaffer's book, Walking With Spring, when we finished our hike."

Shaffer's "approach was straightforward: Get up every day and walk. That's it. Walk. Every day."

"I began to understand that, like backpacking, scholarship -- at least a long-term project like a dissertation -- isn't accomplished in inspired bursts of energy. It's less glamorous. The work can be tedious and grueling. There is always something more interesting to do. I saw that completing the task would have less to do with my intellect and more to do with my determination -- nourished by the support of so many people who kept me moving down the trail."