A path of her own: From P.E. to Ph.D.

With a Ph.D. in history from the University, a master’s degree in real estate finance from New York University and a book nearing publication, Sharon Rodgers GS ’08 is not your typical personal trainer. In fact, you’d be more inclined to believe that she works in Dickinson Hall than at Stephens Fitness Center in Dillon Gymnasium.

“It’s sort of like one of those weirdo books,” she said jokingly of her life path.

After beginning her dissertation research in 1976, Rodgers successfully defended her thesis on financial markets in colonial Boston in 2008. Along the way, Rodgers has overcome obstacles such as securing thesis funding, balancing a job and research and battling health problems. As she prepares her 650-page dissertation for publication, Rodgers said she will continue working as a personal trainer at Dillon, where she has worked since 2004.

Her story, in the words of her former colleague and longtime friend Kriton Kyrimis GS ’90, is one of “perseverance through ... adversity.”

The beginning of a lifelong project

Rodgers first came to the University in 1971 as a graduate student in the anthropology department, planning to study pre-industrial cities. After losing interest in the subject, she transferred to the history department in 1972, where she developed an interest in colonial Massachusetts.

“I liked Boston and what I saw,” she said. “The original sources were fabulous, and I found it fascinating that you could learn about people’s hearts and minds from what they said in these documents.”

Rodgers became especially interested in colonial Massachusetts’ flourishing market economy and “the competition that forced Boston and Massachusetts onto a course of commercial and pecuniary innovation to sustain economic growth, despite their losses to faster-growing neighbors.”

Under her advisor, history professor emeritus John Murrin, Rodgers embarked on the beginning of a 30-year research project. After living in Boston for two-and-a-half years to examine documents in various archives, libraries and courts, Rodgers spent the next 20 years systematically compiling data on the Massachusetts economy, colonial-era currency and the habits of Boston merchants.

In the meantime, Rodgers became interested in physical fitness and took on a full-time administrative job in the computer science department from 1985 to 1995.

“After finishing my general exams, I wanted to do something that would make me healthier and happier, so I started working out,” she said. Little did she know, this hobby would eventually become her job.

While working in the computer science department, Rodgers sought the help of Kyrimis and other friends to create a series of programs that would allow her to perform currency calculations and compile a biographical database to document the economic activity of 750 colonial-era merchants.

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“One of the problems she had met was that she had to study all sorts of transaction records in various currencies, with strange names like pounds, pesos and pistols,” Kyrimis, who now works for a software company in Athens, Greece, said in an e-mail.

Financial setbacks

But for Rodgers, reaching this stage in her research was a difficult task.

“Her dissertation required an enormous amount of work, especially so because she had to have a daytime job as well [as] conduct her research,” Murrin said.

Another obstacle was the lack of available funding from Princeton.

“I had no University funding to get documents,” she said. “I had to pay for all of it myself. Some of the currency bills I needed for my research cost $1,000.”

In 1995, Rodgers was laid off by the department’s new chairman. She then studied at NYU, where she earned a certificate in finance and a master’s degree in real estate finance in 1999. Despite putting aside her dissertation for four years, Rodgers said she believes that her time at NYU “helped her understand the accounting and business elements of her dissertation and also increased [her] knowledge of the subject.”

Rodgers returned to Princeton in 1999 and began creating a computerized analysis of the Boston treasury accounts called Big Chart, the first of its kind.

“During this time, I didn’t think I’d get a degree,” Rodgers said. “So I felt a lot of emotional pressure while I [was] finishing up my dissertation.”

But by 2003, her dissertation was essentially complete, though she would not have the opportunity to defend it for five more years because her adviser was traveling and pursuing other projects.

Making a hobby a job

Her thesis complete, Rodgers followed her personal interests and joined the staff of Stephens Fitness Center in 2004, though she was already working two other jobs.

She joined the staff as a fitness supervisor, but she took on more responsibility a few months ago when she became a personal trainer. Assistant Director of Campus Recreation Matt Brzycki, her current boss, said he was impressed with the work ethic and intense dedication Rodgers has demonstrated since she began working at Dillon.

“She doesn’t have a formal education in a fitness-related field but has gained a great deal of knowledge on her own,” he said. “She takes great pride in her work and takes her responsibilities very seriously. I remember maybe twice where she needed to take a day off from work. Twice — in nearly six years. In a word, she’s tireless.”

Despite this, Rodgers’ health fell into jeopardy in 2008. Two weeks before her thesis defense, she was diagnosed with cancer, which both her grandmother and father died from.

“I knew I had a tumor in 2005, long before I knew it was cancerous,” she said. “But I was working three jobs, none of which offered medical benefits, so there wasn’t much I could do.”

Rodgers began undergoing chemotherapy to reduce the tumor’s size, and she will continue with treatment this spring.

“There was some physical damage, but in many ways it was a lucky cancer,” she said. “It was odd — I felt no great need to have people holding my hand. I just wanted to get on with it. I had to suspend training sessions, but I continued working.”

Moving toward publication

Though faced with this medical challenge, Rodgers refused to balk, successfully defending her dissertation to earn her Ph.D. — the culmination of more than 30 years of work.

“I wanted it badly enough,” she said. “It’s been an inordinately long process, but I love learning.”

“Had I been in her place, I know I would have given up,” Kyrimis said. “I am glad that she didn’t!”

Rodgers said she hopes to have her dissertation published after she finishes her treatment.

“The book is written,” she said. “I want to go over it one last time before submitting it to three or four senior historians for criticism. Then I will search for a publisher.”

Because of the size of her work, Murrin said he believes it will be “tough” to get it published. But Rodgers remains optimistic that readers will see her topic’s relevance to the recent economic crisis.

“I’ve always believed in the importance of the topic,” she said. “I want to communicate what went on and occurred the way it did and make others understand what it has to do with them. You see many of the repetitions, patterns and mindsets continuing to have an impact today as they did in colonial Massachusetts.”

Still, regardless of whether her dissertation is published, Rodgers will continue to oversee the fitness room and train at Dillon as she begins her recovery from cancer.

“Despite her courageous fight against cancer, she has retained her incredible work ethic,” Brzycki said. “I’ve heard her described as the Energizer Bunny. I know that she’s had to slow down a bit, but most people would never guess.”

“It doesn’t frighten me because I didn’t feel like fixating on it,” she said. “I just tell myself to keep going.”