Joys and Toil

A rare event in my professional life occured today; a doctoral student defended her dissertation. Successfully goes without saying in this case. Sure, this time of year, across the nation, it's probably a daily event. But, each faculty has only 2-3 doctoral students at a time. So, for us, it's not a daily event, or even an annual event.

We spend years nurturing, reassuring, educating, guiding, mentoring. cajoling, learning from each doctoral student. It's a pregnancy that lasts three times longer that of elephants. Mostly, its a pregnancy and a journey we enjoy, that we take very seriously, and set as a high priority. But, like any pregnancy, some are easier than others and some "births" are easier than others. This one was almost like not being pregnant. Easy, enjoyable, with a smooth passage into the new life. Although the student would say otherwise.

A doctoral defense consists of the committee members meeting, the student presenting the research to anyone who chooses to attend the public presentation, then the committee meets with the student for in depth questioning and discussion, followed by an executive session of only the doctoral committee members. We schedule 2 hours for the whole thing. During the executive session, the group votes pass/fail. We all hope for a quick unanimous pass decision, as happened here. But, somethings things are not so smooth and the executive session turns into a battle between members over what would be required, beyond what was presented, for the student to pass. We have all horror stories of being involved in one or two of those, but thankfully those are the exceptions.

After the hugs and hand shakes and the relieved chatter, we meander back to our offices to face the more mundane. I  went to the office and faced human resources problems related to my KRISP grant. I reviewed for the last time the grant renewal application and made sure it was submitted via the web to HRSA. Done, and a day to spare.  Then I spent 2 hours with an RA (graduate research assistrant) re-coding statements from public health nurse job descriptions. Tedious, but finished. That too was part of the KRISP grant.

My day ended with a surprise visit from a friend. We sat in my office and chatted, happy to see each other. It was a great excuse and wonderful way to end the day.