Graduation 2013

After three plus years I am the proud recipient of a PhD! (I add the "plus" to the three years because the PhD program was three years, but the master's program was two, and the bachelor's was four...). Most PhD programs take four or more years, but the program at UNC is supposed to be accomplished in three years--that's how long your funding lasts anyway. Some semesters I took five classes; I submitted and received a grant to support my dissertation research; I completed my comprehensive exams (a series of five closed book essay-like documents that were about 15 pages each, done in a four hour time block over the course of a week and a half) early in the summer; I defended my dissertation proposal in the summer before my third year and then spent the third year using the grant funds to implement a campaign in six NC schools and evaluate it; I then wrote up my dissertation--a 100 plus page document that included theory and application, and passed my dissertation defense. When I look back, it seems like A LOT happened in those three years.

Graduation was great. My parents, brother and extended family came out. So nice to have so much support! I can't even begin to thank everyone for all their support and encouragement throughout the last three years. Shawn has been wonderful, whether it was dealing with late night study sessions or listening to my research presentations, and my family and friends have really helped make this experience a great one.

UNC has multiple graduations (three in total that PhDs could participate in). I participated in two of them. The first was just for graduate degrees across the university. We had a great commencement speaker and that was when I was first "hooded." On my left is my wonderful advisor.

The second graduation was the next day for all students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. At this ceremony, I again was hooded by my advisor, but I also received my diploma!

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I really enjoyed sharing it with all my family!

Below are a few other pictures from the weekend:

Success

The defense was a success! I was a little nervous in the half hour or so before the defense, but it actually turned out just fine. My committee was great and provided excellent feedback that will help me make positive changes as I move forward. And, I passed! That means I can finish off the dissertation, submit it to the grad school, and get my PhD.

This is a pic of me from before the defense--see how excited I was?

 

When I came home, Shawn had gotten me flowers and a gift--a nice watch! We then went out for Italian food (where it was also $5 Martini Wednesday!). 

When we came home that evening though, we found a box of dark chocolate eggs that Bella had eaten splayed all over the floor. Bella ate about 14 eggs! Needless to say, we were nervous. But Shawn knew what to do. He said we needed to get them out of her system, so we called our wonderful friend who is also a vet tech and she helped us. After Bella got sick (she was a real champ as we keep feeding her hydrogen peroxide--just happy to have all the attention), she was pretty tired out for the rest of the evening. Luckily, it seems like most the chocolate was out of her system and she seems to be doing alright.

What a day!

D-Day

Today is the morning of my defense. My day will start out pretty normally, with some meetings at UNC about a project I am currently working on. Then at noon, I will meet with my committee to talk about the project I have spent the last two years or so working on.

I have prepared a brief powerpoint to highlight aspects of the project, and we will then discuss the 100 plus page document I sent them three weeks ago. The presentation is supposed to be about 10 minutes. It is actually quite hard to pare down 2 years worth of work to 10 minutes. Good thing they also had 100 pages to get the gist.

I will let you know how it all turns out, but overall, I am pretty excited. I anticipate a meeting that is informative and provides some good feedback on the work I have done--feedback that will help me improve it so that I can send it out to journals for publication. Hopefully, the next post you see from me will be written by Dr. Jessica Fitts Willoughby.

Birthday building!

Happy birthday to me!

I had a birthday last weekend. Instead of presents, I asked Shawn to help me ("help me") build a cedar planter box for the backyard. Being the good sport that he is, we spent the morning of my birthday picking out wood, followed by brunch with friends, and then spent the afternoon building.

We had a few mistakes along the way (but all our fingers are intact, which I was concerned about when I first attempted the circular saw).

Overall, we came out with a pretty solid box though.

After that, Shawn took the time to bake me a cake, and our friends brought us some delicious cupcakes.

The following weekend, we finished the planter box off with some trim and planted romaine, spinach, onions and tomatoes in there. Excited to see what actually grows over the next few months! (Bella appears to be a little less excited).

Fun outside NC--in the Bahamas

Alright...I am approximately four months behind in posts. My fans (e.g., my parents and about 2 friends) are getting restless.

Shawn and I have been up to a lot in the last four months. Aside from an amazing Christmas with my family in NC, I have started a new semester, Shawn has been busy at work, and we have gone on vacation. Here is some information on our trip from last month. Over the next few weeks, I will catch you all up on the many things we have done, from house projects to PhD milestones, so stay tuned.

In early February, Shawn and I took a trip with two of our good friends to the Bahamas! We visited Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport. Part of the fun took place on the way, though, because we went there on a Carnival cruise (and don't worry--our cruise moved at just the right pace--luckily no time stuck at sea for us).

On the ship, we had a lot of fun. We participated in every scavenger hunt the ship had to offer, digital or otherwise, and after winning gold medals in two of those, we made up our own scavenger hunt!

We also spent time eating, dancing, enjoying comedy shows, and watching sunsets and sunrises. Here are some pictures from those great times:

We also enjoyed activities off the ship, like a beach day at our first stop: Port Canaveral.

And paddle boarding, snorkeling, walking downtown and beach time in Nassau.

And jeeping! We went on a Jeep adventure that took us off-road around Grand Bahama, Freeport, as well as to a beautiful garden and another great beach.

Overall, we had a great trip with some great company!