I am back from my Virginia adventure. Robin and I drove to Port Norfolk, where she and her husband have a house, on Sunday. I went to Richmond to visit VCU on Monday. Then on Tuesday, we drove back to Indiana. I have to say, I never thought the trip would end. I also had no idea that West Virginia’s slogan is “open for businessâ€. That is just slutty. I’m pretty sure I have a permanent ridge in my butt from my car seat, road rage, road rash…. 
I spent Monday at VCU meeting Susie Ganch, Natalya Pinchuk, and the grad students in the metals area. Susie is absolutely wonderful! I spent about an hour with her, an hour with Natalya, and the entire afternoon with the grad students. They were all great; I really enjoyed picking their brains about their program.
The program at VCU is a two year program, which I find really enticing. They do not have a great amount of funding, BUT they do offer money to grads once they are there. I think the deal is that you aren’t guaranteed funding…you have to continually apply for the various things they offer. I would probably have to take out student loans to go to VCU.
This was the first visit I’ve done this time around, so as I visit other programs I’ll basically be comparing them to see which ones are the best deal/best fit for me. Robin seems to think that I should shop around.
I’m off to IU tonight for the Field of Vision exhibition/lecture series/workshop. I will be staying there for 3 days while I take a workshop with Julie Blyfield and learn all about smithing and chasing.
I’ll also be checking out IU’s grad program while I’m there. Then it goes like this:
BGSU on Oct. 18th
UW-Madison on Oct. 23rd
UW-Milwaukee on Nov. 20th
Barb:
I know many people who have gone to VCU, and some of the faculty there. It is a great program: they really seem to do a lot for their graduate students. Email me if you have any more questions.
-Kate
Will do! Thanks.