Made My Way...

I walked in the ASU Graduate Commencement Ceremony on Monday, May 8th, 2017

Done & Dusted!

As of today, April 25th, I have submitted my final version of my dissertation to ProQuest. As I understand it, unless the ASU administrators have revisions, this is the final step in finalizing my degree. My dissertation chair did not recommend purchasing the copyright through ProQuest since I retain the full copyright of my work as is, so I just submitted my work as is. 

On the ProQuest site, I filed my dissertation under the main subject categories of "rhetoric," "pedagogy," and "creative writing." The secondary keywords are "autobiography," "composition," "feminism," "identity," "memoir," and "theory." Once my work becomes available after six years, I believe, these search words are the ones that will yield results for my dissertation on the site. 

I am now looking to print a hardcopy version of my dissertation. ProQuest does offer the printing of my dissertation but at a significant cost, and I would not receive the printed version for 8-12 weeks. I am currently looking at printing my dissertation through BookBaby as they have the most user friendly site and overall very positive reviews online. 

I posted this image and caption on Instagram on Friday (April 21st) celebrating the dissertation "pass" on April 17th. That was a good email to receive! 

Below is the final pass form that I received from my chair, Maureen, and the department administrator, Sheila Luna. You can see Maureen's signature and the date of the pass on the bottom. It's official! 

Passed!

This semester has been one for the books, but the results are in-- I have passed my dissertation defense and revisions! As of Monday, April 17th, 2017 I was done!! Thinking back over the milestones, it does feel somewhat strange to be at this point. At times I felt that I would never be here. I am honestly so very thankful for the support of my committee in getting me to this point. I don't take it for granted that I was able to complete my degree in three years, and I know that I could not have done it without them be ready and willing to help me through the process.

My checklist is finally complete, though, and it feels great!

The defense went pretty smoothly. For my twenty minute defense presentation, I prepared this Dissertation Defense Presentation. Preparing the presentation actually took me longer than I expected it to take. I think that it took so long because it was really hard to narrow down what exactly I wanted to include in the presentation. I cut down my 190ish page dissertation to 24 slides to present in just over 20 minutes. I designed the presentation slides based on the Hufflepuff colors, my Hogwarts house. Gotta have some fun with it!

Maureen's advice was to write a script to read from during the presentation, and I'm glad I did. My working notes kept me centered and on track. I read pretty much straight from these notes during the presentation, and then I answered questions for about 40 to 45 minutes. I answered at least three questions from each member of my committee, and then I answered a couple questions from the audience. My questions were generally focused on asking for clarification on a few terms, the decisions I made in teaching my course, and then the responses from my students.

After the questions, I went out in the hall with my friends who attended the defense and waited for my committee to make their decision. That part was probably less than five minutes, but I can honestly say that it was by far the worst part of the day. Maureen came out into the hall (with Ellie on my phone on Skype) and announced that I passed! That was a relief. I went back into the room, then, and we made a plan for completing my revisions.

After that, it was time to celebrate! My friends and I took some photos outside, and then we went to for a champagne toast and some delicious lunch at Postino Annex. That night, I ate dinner with my college roommate at Cibo Urban Pizzeria. The next day, after flying back to the midwest, Wade took me out to dinner at Bonefish Grill and gave me my graduation gift-- a trip to Harry Potter World in Orlando, FL! So fun.

The next week was spent on revisions. I completed my revisions from Maureen first, then Ellie, then Trish, then my own, then the formatting from the college. It was intense work, but I feel really good about the final product. I was able to highlight and clarify the elements of the dissertation that I highlighted in the defense but wasn't as clear in the actual draft. Submitting that finalized version felt really good, and it felt even better when I received my pass. Phew! All that's left is just to walk in the commencement ceremony in Tempe on Monday, May 8th. I'm so excited!

Dissertation Revisions

It's Done!

As of Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 I have earned a Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University

#almostphdone

CCCC 2017

The 2017 CCCC Annual Convention in Portland, OR was a wonderful conference and an amazing week. I arrived in rainy Portland on Tuesday night and had some lovely Oregon sushi. The main portion of my conference activity was on Wednesday when I attended the Research Network Forum, and I really enjoyed the day and learned a lot.

I had initially proposed to discuss my dissertation work, but by the time the actual RNF came around, I thought that advice about the job market would be more helpful. So, I presented parts of my dissertation in the two roundtable sessions, and I asked about ways that I could present my research on the job market and publish my work. The advice that I received in the roundtables, from presentations and discussions about publishing, as well as from my meeting with a faculty mentor was very helpful. I have a clear direction for my work and ways to prepare to go on the market.

The rest of the conference I spent attending sessions, meeting old and new friends, and soaking up the energy of the conference attendees. The city of Portland was dynamic, engaging, and very fun to explore. I found a lot of good places to eat and great places to meet up with friends from the conference and chat more.

The most refreshing part of the week was at the end when Casie Moreland, Jessica Boykin, and I drove to Neskowin on the coast of OR. We stopped in McMinnville for a night to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and then we settled into a quaint beach condo literally on the coast. After the hustle and bustle and constant idea exchange at the conference, we took a deep breathe and watched the waves and ate some filling food the first day.

The next couple days was spent as a writing retreat. On this retreat, I submitted my first full draft of my dissertation to the college and to Maureen! That felt like a victory for me, especially after the inspiration and ideas I gleaned from the conference. We talked, ate, laughed, and enjoyed our time on the beach, especially in such a beautiful place to stay. We also prepared for next year's conference! We read over the CCCC 2018 proposal, talked about our ideas, and discussed the changes we see and want to see in the conference. I love spending times with these ladies because, even while we don't always agree, our ideas compliment each other's and build on each other's. I came back from OR tired but ready to jump into the completion of this doctoral degree!