ROCKLAND COUNTY AUTHORS:TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS OF DOCTORAL CANDIDATES

BY DR. LOUIS ALPERT
In this third article in our series devoted to Rockland County Authors, this column now features Professor Jason Matthew Zalinger who just published “Myron Gold: A Graduate Student Struggles,” a short story collection about getting my PhD and becoming a professor). This collection of short stories was released in August, 2027 by Sense Publishers.
Professor Zalinger stated that he “created a character named Myron Oygold, a chain-smoking, Xanax-popping PhD student trying  desperately to finish his doctorate, find lost love, and make something out of his life. Myron was a kind of alter-ego for me. Myron encounters many of the same problems that PhD students are faced with advisers, research grants, research grants, social and emotional issues and, of course, the brutal blood sport known as the academic job market. I published these stories to give those first-year grad students something that would make them say: ‘That’s me! I know how it feels.’ The PhD experience is very unique and quite unlike most ‘normal’ jobs people have.”
“Becoming a professor is also a unique calling, and many of the conventions people are used to don’t seem to apply. It’s an odd yet deeply satisfying career, and I only hope that these stories provide some solace to those anxious students as they settle in for their first semesters and try to make sense of how in the world they ended up sitting around a table to debate what Socrates would have thought about Facebook!”
Professor Zalinger received his PhD in Communication and Rhetoric from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (a highly acclaimed engineering college in the US) and is now an assistant professor and program head of Communication Studies at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
In his own words, Professor Jason Matthew Zalinger states that he “resides in Nyack with his laptop, college debt and lots of books.”
Please address all comments and questions to: editor@rocklandcountytimes.com

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