In this interview, Dr. Jessie Wiggins discusses her dissertation, Post-pandemic Ethos: Reframing Medical Expertise in an Era of Distrust and how she decided to focus on the topic of vaccinated blood. Additionally, we discuss the defense process and balancing many different parts of life during graduate school.
Can you tell us a little bit about your dissertation?
Let's see... my dissertation is about ethos. It really is responding to distrust that increased during COVID throughout the United States, and I use ethos as a framework to respond to this increasing distrust.
My dissertation specifically responds to vaccinated blood hesitancy as a particular case example. I had clinician interviews and qualitative online surveys. I also examined a book on popular constructions of expertise.
My through-line argument, my overall assertion, is that expertise is a productive lens for examining this increasing distrust, and that invitational rhetoric is a productive framework for responding and cultivating response to this.
I feel like you have a relatively niche topic. What led you to this topic?
It stems back to the vaccinated blood project. I definitely want to say thanks to the vaccinated blood project team. That was with Dr. Heidi Lawrence and, at Virginia Tech, Dr. Julie Gerdes and Tèmítọ́pẹ́ Ọ̀jẹ́délé-Adéjùmò. The four of us had this ongoing project for around a year and a half where we were fully invested, meeting regularly, analyzing websites on vaccinated blood hesitancy.
The way it all came together is that the professor at Virginia Tech, Dr. Julie Gerdes, was in conversation with a clinician at a major hospital system in the Midwest, and they had this new phenomenon occurring where patients were refusing or hesitating surgery because they were concerned about needing a blood transfusion if that blood was donated by someone who had had the COVID-19 vaccine. They had us come on as rhetoricians to help problem solve and troubleshoot and respond to this new phenomenon.
Then, in the summer of 2024, I was in my reading period, and I was very invested in this project. There was so much to do with ethos and expertise, and I just had so many ideas for spinning off in that way.
I say thanks to the vaccinated blood project because they let me use the clinician interviews as part of my dissertation chapter, and then I expanded from there with surveys.
Were there any classes or research experiences that led you to your research approach?
I would say Dr. McKinley Green’s courses were really helpful. I took a rhetorics of health and medicine course with him in the summer, and I also took his ENGH-702: Research Methods in Rhetoric and Writing course. Also, during my summer semester where I was reading for my exams, I did an independent study with him on qualitative methods and health contexts.
I learned so much, obviously, just in his research methods course. Then, that last course that we did as an independent study is where I figured out my plan to use the survey method. I hadn't done that before, so that was stretching myself a little bit. I had a lot of experience with interviews, but only one sort of experience with surveys. So, really, all of his courses, particularly in methods and in health contexts, were super helpful.
You successfully defended with no revisions. What was the defense process like for you?
I'll just say, I had a great advisor. Dr. Heidi Lawrence and I met once a week for many months. Each week she would have some feedback on my writing, I would make changes, and so the whole process was very iterative. Once we got to the point where I sent out my dissertation to my committee three weeks before the defense, I had those three weeks to reread my dissertation.
Putting it together as a presentation, honestly, I thought to myself, “Oh no, I should have done this maybe a month ago.” It was really helpful to see the big picture. I don't know if it would work for everyone, but I'd really recommend that, as you get to that last month of the dissertation and everything's falling into place, distilling it into a PowerPoint that you can walk through within 45 minutes for the defense. It’s really helpful in seeing: what are my big picture assertions? How do they map together? What argument am I making?
I found it really helpful to do, and I kind of thought, “Oh, this might have been helpful when I was shaping up the last week or two of my dissertation itself.”
What are some of your proudest accomplishments while you’ve been at Mason?
I'm really proud of my dissertation and, because of my committee, it's something that I can be proud of.
Besides that, you know, of course, being the graduate writing coordinator in the Writing Center is what comes to mind. I've had two different writers put me in their acknowledgements of their thesis and dissertations, which has meant a lot to me. Just in general, I found that to be really rewarding work. Then, the thesis/dissertation team I work on and the admin team have been really great. It's been a few years now since I've taught. I had two students end up publishing some of the things they wrote in class. That was also, I'd say, something I'm proud of.
What’s next after graduation?
I'm going to swim, read fiction for fun, and needlepoint. I'm going to take a step back and take the summer to have fun and unwind and celebrate.
Eventually, I plan on looking for jobs in industry positions, so non-academic positions. I don't know exactly where that will land. I'm considering picking up some of the contract work that I've done in my internships while I've been at George Mason University over the summers. I'm interested in qualitative health research roles, too.
What’s something fun that you’ve done during the PhD program to keep your momentum?
My first semester, like I said, I was in Dr. Green's ENGH-702: Research Methods in Rhetoric and Writing course. My husband and I have been together for a decade but were just dating at the time, and he was abroad in the military. I hadn't seen him in over a year because of COVID precautions and work. Finally, I was like, “Okay, I'm just going to fly there.”
I went for the weekend and got engaged, and I flew back home. My mom picked me up from the airport and took me to class directly because it was a seven o'clock class that night, so I had like a three-day long weekend, went straight to class, and everyone was so excited. That was a fun class and that was how started off my PhD program.
Then, the summer of 2024, I did a thousand things. I was studying for exams. I had the vaccinated blood project going on. I also got married. I woke up every morning really early and had to read for my exams. I just had a lot going on.
I think it's a great answer, though, because I think sometimes there's this perception that you have to give up your personal life to do a grad program.
Yeah, that summer I did the vaccinated blood project, I had an internship, I took an independent study, I got married, I went on a honeymoon, I was reading for my exams every day. It was a lot of work, but you're definitely able to do many things. It was just a lot of time management.