On Friday morning Thomas defended his dissertation, and I am so pleased and proud to announce that he passed! Not that we were particularly worried, but it is such a relief to have that hurdle out of the way. What a great feeling for all of us!
Thomas had an open defense, so I was able to attend. His sister Emily was also able to come, after secretly driving to Knoxville on Thursday and completely and utterly surprising Thomas (Jamie and I already knew she was coming). He actually fell over in shock when he first saw her. Anyway, I was so glad to be able to go to the defense. Thomas got so nervous right beforehand, but of course he did a wonderful job, and it was great to hear him talk about his project and see the culmination of his last 5 years of work.
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| Thomas with his advisor, Dr. Jay Rubenstein. There is a tradition in the history department of taking pictures by this sign when people successfully pass their exams or defense. |
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| stolen from Emily's facebook :) |
To celebrate, we went out to dinner at the Tomato Head and later had some friends from his program over as well. It was a fun and relaxing end to a great day!
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| I made Thomas's favorite carrot cake. I was so happy with how it turned out!! |
You and that cake are both beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anna!
DeleteAh the Tomato Head, that sounds familiar. :) Good job on the cake.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!