This email this morning from Sherri Lex, assistant director for student records for Marquette University's Graduate School, delighted me very much:
Dear Herbert Lowe,
Congratulations. Your submission, 10772 has cleared all of the necessary checks and will soon be delivered to ProQuest/UMI for publishing.
Translation: My graduate school thesis is DONE! Finally. After 16 months – DONE! No more getting out of bed at 3 a.m. to work on "Journalism and Community: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS)." Hallelujah!
Much more on this website about my never-ending staircase into the depths of research and scholarship, including full acknowledgments and the penultimate hurdle – my thesis defense last week – soon. For now, John Pauly, Ph.D., my thesis committee chairman, will always have my deepest gratitude. The final result is much more than I ever thought it could be. Hopefully, it is close to what Dr. Pauly believes it should be. Thanks also to the my other committee members: Ana Garner, Ph.D. (“Scribble! Scribble! Scribble!”) and Erik Ugland, Ph.D. Their guidance, support, patience and understanding during this long process means a lot to me.
Thanks also to my thesis informants: NNS Editor-in-Chief Sharon McGowan; NNS reporters Edgar Mendez and Andrea Waxman; Karen Slattery, Ph.D., chairwoman of the college’s journalism and media studies department; and former NNS intern Heather Ronaldson, already one of my favorite former students. And to Lori Bergen, Ph.D., whose foresight as the Diederich College dean helped bring both me and the news service to Marquette; my other journalism and media studies faculty colleagues for their support; and my wife, Mira, whose editing and love knows no bounds, even when tested by the likes of this new scholar.
Have become accustomed to soaking it in during these many months, I asked Dr. Pauly if he had any wisdom for me now that this glorious day has come. Here's his reply:
Much more on this website about my never-ending staircase into the depths of research and scholarship, including full acknowledgments and the penultimate hurdle – my thesis defense last week – soon. For now, John Pauly, Ph.D., my thesis committee chairman, will always have my deepest gratitude. The final result is much more than I ever thought it could be. Hopefully, it is close to what Dr. Pauly believes it should be. Thanks also to the my other committee members: Ana Garner, Ph.D. (“Scribble! Scribble! Scribble!”) and Erik Ugland, Ph.D. Their guidance, support, patience and understanding during this long process means a lot to me.
Thanks also to my thesis informants: NNS Editor-in-Chief Sharon McGowan; NNS reporters Edgar Mendez and Andrea Waxman; Karen Slattery, Ph.D., chairwoman of the college’s journalism and media studies department; and former NNS intern Heather Ronaldson, already one of my favorite former students. And to Lori Bergen, Ph.D., whose foresight as the Diederich College dean helped bring both me and the news service to Marquette; my other journalism and media studies faculty colleagues for their support; and my wife, Mira, whose editing and love knows no bounds, even when tested by the likes of this new scholar.
Have become accustomed to soaking it in during these many months, I asked Dr. Pauly if he had any wisdom for me now that this glorious day has come. Here's his reply:
Wisdom. Hmmm. Take time to savor this moment and enjoy it. Once that’s done, don’t treat the thesis as a requirement that you checked off or something to put on the shelf; rather consider it a life accomplishment on which you can build in the months and years ahead.
Also, think about what you learned about being a student from doing this project. How might your experience of completing a thesis be helpful to you in your own work with students? How are you going to inspire students to take on a big challenge and work much harder than they thought themselves capable of? That’s all I got for now. Campus is dead, which means it’s just me and my notes and my book manuscript. Fantastic!
"Savor the moment and enjoy it." Check and check! As for the rest of his advice? Well, I'm not trying to hear all that right now. (OK, given I also have become accustomed to resisting his advice in the afternoon, only to awake at 3 a.m. and do everything he told me to do, I'm sure I will tend to his questions and inspirations soon enough.) For now, it's time for golf!
