nameishere
Junior member
Posts: 62
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« on: February 23, 2008, 12:38:43 AM » |
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Hi,
My friend and former instructor is planning on defending her dissertation some time next fall, having pushed it back a semester from her orginal plan of defending in May. Her dissertation topic, IMO, is really fascinating, and I'd actually love to read her dissertation/go to her defense for both academic and personal reasons. I've talked to her some about her research, though strangely she is a lot more closed-mouthed about that than her marriage (yeah, I have no idea...). She's invited to me to her graduation twice but hasn't invited me to her actual defense...
Additionally, I'm an undergraduate in the same major in the same small-ish department, so I know a lot of her committee members, including working the lab of a professor whom I suspect is her chair.
Is it generally not common for non-grad. students or faculty to go defenses? Am I out of line for asking?
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sciencephd
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« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2008, 12:47:29 AM » |
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In the sciences, there is a public part (a seminar) for which there is an announcement. After that there is a private part (student + committee only). After that there is usually a small party of some sort in the department. You don't need any invitation to attend the seminar.
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I just hate it that I constantly have to like everyone and everything. -- moonstone
O, what a hateful feminist concoction!
Jews, communists, "lesbians", feminists and marihuana addicts --Pyshnov
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nameishere
Junior member
Posts: 62
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« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2008, 12:50:55 AM » |
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Thanks for the response--just to clarify, her field is clinical psychology.
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acrimone
The Red Queen's Court Assassin
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 4,049
I am not a professor at all, despite what I say.
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« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2008, 12:39:58 PM » |
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Quoth the Scavenger Article's Numbers Guy: "I don't know why you need my help, but here it is." http://www.usenature.com/article_numerology.htm"Silly forumites..." |
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"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
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nameishere
Junior member
Posts: 62
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« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2008, 01:49:04 PM » |
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^
Huh??
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daffy
New member
Posts: 29
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« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2008, 02:09:44 PM » |
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Acrimone's post is related to the ongoing forum scavenger hunt he initiated a few days ago.
About your question-- how long have you been in the department? Have you noticed any notices/emails about other people's defenses? In my fields, defenses are open to the public and there is usually an announcement a few days ahead of time. Just ask your friend or the department secretary if defenses are open to the public. If so, feel free to go. I have seen ugrads, grads, outside faculty, even family members attend defenses.
If they are indeed public in your department, your friend probably didn't specifically invite you because she figured you knew that it was a public event in which no invitation is needed.
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stanwyck
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« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2008, 04:15:52 PM » |
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If it is open to the public, you might ask you friend if she would like you to go and take notes. Sometimes the committee has a lot to say about revisions, and some of that can be contradictory. After it's all over, your friend might not remember what was said, or how important any of the suggestions were. It helps if someone else is also tracking the conversation and writing down the high points.
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hollow_man
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« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2008, 06:04:35 PM » |
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I'm getting a weird vibe from the situation. She talks to you about her marriage, but not her research? WTF? Is she hitting on you?
If she didn't invite you to the defense, I wouldn't go if I were you. She might not care, but then again a defense can be a bit tense, and maybe she'd prefer to keep it small.
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nameishere
Junior member
Posts: 62
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« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2008, 10:51:31 PM » |
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No, she's not hitting on me!--we're both straight females, and she's married and a more than decade older and... just no. She's just a friend, and when I ask her how she's doing, one of the things she usually mentions is her marriage/husband, which I don't find to be that strange. Our friendship, however, is a sort of odd combination of roles, as she used to be my instructor and all, so there are certain weird points about it, but nothing unusually creepy.
I don't know if "public" dissertations are part of the department culture here or not. They have open colliquia for MA thesises, but I haven't seen any for dissetations, though that may not mean much as we only graduate about two or three PhDs in any given academic year. I was invited to the denfense of a student whom I worked with in a biomedical lab (so a different department), though I couldn't go due to scheduling conflicts. It's not for more than a semester, but it was on my mind, so I figured I'd ask and see if there was any sort of academic consensus on this issue.
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katherineparr
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« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2008, 11:00:14 PM » |
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I think you should find out whether defenses are open. If so, then I would think going is a mark of respect and a nod to your common research interests. If not, then no need to ask her how she'd feel about it.
Kudos to you for paying such close attention to the PhD work of your friend while you're doing undergraduate work. This might be a good time to think about what kind of mentor you'd like to be one day - since it seems she's influenced and interested you with her teaching and research.
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