National Student Parent Month: Kathryn Urban
Celebrating MIT’s graduate student parents
Happy National Student Parent Month! This month, the Office of Graduate Education is featuring one graduate student parent per week, highlighting their academic work and parenting journey at MIT. Stay tuned for more student parent features!
Kathryn Urban
Family: 9-month-old daughter, Ruth, and husband, David.
Degree program: Political science
Years at MIT: Starting 4th year
Meet Kathryn Urban, a fourth-year PhD student in Political Science at MIT’s Security Studies Program. After seven years working in Washington, D.C. on both the government side and as staff in a political science academic department, Kathryn decided to pursue a doctorate in Political Science.
MIT’s renowned security studies program, with its focus on the operational dimensions of military strategy, seemed like the ideal fit. “The program’s focus on the operational sides of war makes us [graduate students] better able to communicate with policymakers,” Kathryn explains.
While the connection between rigorous academic research and real-world policy impact drew her to MIT, it was the support for student parents that allowed her to begin envisioning a future at the Institute for herself and her family.
Planning for flexibility
Kathryn gave birth shortly after sitting her general exams– a pivotal moment in any doctoral program. Rather than putting her studies on hold, she worked closely with her dissertation committee to design a new academic cadence that accommodated both her research and her newborn.
“My academic advisors have been wonderful at helping accommodate that flexibility,” she says. That collaboration has been essential as she balances ongoing dissertation work in military strategy, which includes interviews with U.S. and foreign military decision-makers, archival research, and policy engagement with government agencies like the Department of Defense and RAND Corporation.
This flexibility has been crucial, particularly as Kathryn and David face a unique parenting schedule. While Kathryn tackles her studies, David works retail, which means neither household member operates in a traditional 9-to-5 rhythm.
“That’s meant figuring out childcare… work-from-home… and time together as a family while navigating both of our unpredictable work schedules,” Kathryn explains. Managing this complexity required creative solutions, which is where MIT’s backup childcare benefits came in.
Before Ruth could start full-time daycare, Kathryn relied on in-center backup care through Bright Horizons, MIT’s backup childcare partner. “Having many Bright Horizons centers available made it easier to book and coordinate drop-off and pick-up,” she explains. Some days she uses a center near MIT, allowing her to handle pick-up and drop-off around her academic schedule, while other days she chooses a location closer to David’s workplace in Boston.
Kathryn has also leaned on in-home backup childcare options, particularly while traveling for work, since care is available nationwide. “I used two providers, and one specifically was great. I would use them again next time I’m in D.C.,” she notes.
Finding a community
When Kathryn first arrived at MIT, she was uncertain about how the security studies program would respond to a student parent. It had been a long time since someone in the program had a baby.
The response surprised her. “My department had a baby shower for me, and my committee members checked in on me during my parental leave period,” she recalls. Beyond departmental support, she’s found community through Grad Families programming: attending a mothers day brunch, connecting with peers on the MIT Families Slack group, and meeting other student parents within her department.
Over the next few years as she completes her dissertation, Kathryn anticipates conducting field work and archival research in the United Kingdom, India, and South America. She shares that she is still figuring out how to navigate that research with a young daughter in tow.
“I’m a little nervous about bringing her along or leaving her home,” she admits. But with flexible advisors, robust backup childcare options, and a growing network of fellow student parents, she’s navigating the unknowns with a little more confidence.
Kathryn reflects, “The biggest surprise to me was how easy it was to build a community of other parents, even while we’re not living on campus.”
For more information on MIT’s support for students with children, please visit the MIT Families website or contact gradfamilies@mit.edu.
