With the end of Spring Semester now in sight, we have a new cohort of promising graduate students waiting in the wings and defending dissertators on center stage. It may be some sort of record for us this year as we anticipate that 17 Ph.D. students will have defended and submitted their dissertations between August of 2015 and August of 2016. Happy reports of jobs landed and dissertations completed make their way to my door in increasing numbers.
Our newer graduate students are also impressive. With the revenue from our online courses we are able to offer recruiting packages to several very competitive graduate applicants, and all of our first year students for next year will have funding. Two of our pre-ABD students now have prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Fellowships.
I always look forward to the undergraduate spring commencement and the department reception for our graduates and their families. It’s so rewarding to hear about the great interactions that our undergraduates have had with the faculty, and the wonderful opportunities students engaged in during their time here as we celebrate each of the individual graduates.
Over the past year we have also had many occasions to celebrate faculty achievements, some of which you will see in the pages of this newsletter. Dr. Anne Ferguson will soon be retiring and we highlight her remarkable career in this newsletter. Dr. Judy Pugh and Dr. Kenneth David retired this year and we wish them long and happy retirements. Their keen insights and sharp wits will be missed.
This article appears in our Spring 2016 newsletter. Read the entire newsletter here.