Miranda Sanford-Terry earned not one but two doctorates while in grad school at Illinois — one in community health/disability studies, the other in how to survive the pursuit of one’s Ph.D., part of the unofficial curriculum at Legends Bar and Grill.
The latter remains “the campus spot I think about the most and still visit every time I’m in town,” she says. “I love their ultimate grilled cheese and their blue moon burger as well as their awesome drink specials, the Cheers-like atmosphere, and I laugh to think it’s documented on their wall that I earned a Ph.D. in drinking the same year I earned my actual Ph.D.
“The drinking helped get me through as earning a Ph.D. takes a lot of hard work and dedication. LOL.”
Sanford-Terry knew the lay of the Campustown land well before earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Eastern Illinois and enrolling at Illinois for grad school — not far from where she grew up, in Loda and Rantoul.
She is where she is today — chair of the Department of Applied Health Sciences at Murray State University — thanks in no small part to a two of many influential Illinois teachers she studied under along the way.
“Two that I still recall and are thankful for my time working with them are Dr. Reginald Alston, for growing my passion in Disability Studies and Rehabilitation Counseling, and Dr. Jennifer Hardesty, for her mentorship in how to be a researcher of sensitive topics, such as violence against women.”
