Pass my defense

My advisor said he’s never seen a Q&A that was so intense, nor one that was handled so well.

Yay for ending on a high note.

I finally found a chair! I’ve never put myself in a position to hear “no” quite that many times in a row, so I’m proud that I kept at it. Now I can stop holding my breath and file the paperwork!

My first 3 choices are all busy on the big day. 2 were really really nice about it, and the 3rd has an online calendar so I didn’t need to email him. Here’s hoping I get lucky with the next batch.

My advisor said to schedule the date first based on the availability of the reading committee, and then search for a random prof who is available on the scheduled date. I think this was probably good advice given how hard it was to get the reading committee’s schedules to align, but I’m going to be nervous until someone says yes.

I finally emailed my first choice for committee chair, and she was totally nice about it but had a scheduling conflict. My #2 choice has his schedule posted online, and he’s clearly busy. So I emailed #3.

If #3 can’t do it, that exhausts the original list of suggestions my advisor and I came up with. Hopefully he will help me come up with more names. I refuse to believe that every single faculty member outside my dept (except my committee) is busy on the chosen day!

It’s a requirement at many universities, including mine, that an “outside” chair be appointed for the committee overseeing the defense. The definition of “outside” varies – usually it means outside your department, but it can be broader or narrower than that. It’s a measure of outside quality control, the idea being that if a prof from the biology department (e.g.) can tell that the anthropology professors are just scratching each others’ backs and letting their students get away with very little work, then we have a problem.

How much the outside chair knows about the student’s work varies widely: I know a chemical engineering student who worked very closely with a professor in the chemistry department and had him chair the committee. On the flip side, I know a computer science student who had a committee chair from the music department. The guy was actually very interested in learning what the CS student was doing, but I doubt he was really in a position to call him on any bullshit.

For various institutional reasons, my chair will not be anyone who knows my field (or me) very well, which means I need to basically cold-call people. This is understood and expected, but it’s freaking me out and I’m procrastinating on it. I thought posting might make me feel better :)

I can reopen this goal without the “personal challenge” thing.

Because you bet your ass it’s still a goal.

I could have had a better committee. What should have been an interesting learning experience turned into a (mostly pointless) ordeal.

I want to make this goal not a personal challenge anymore, or at the very least change the date. (Let’s not talk about why right now). I tried “giving up” and then re-opening, but it came back as a challenge again with the same date. I’m giving it up for now just so I don’t have to see it at the top of the list. But trust me, it is still a goal.

And you know my new “grow the f**k up” goal? Good thing I was working on that already because damn.

and then I spent two days sleeping…

It is done.
And the strange thing is… it was really interesting, almost fun. Actually, the only thing preventing it from being complete fun was my (very reasonable) fear. I watched many other defenses before mine, and “fun” would hardly apply. The professors loved my work, and because of that were really friendly. They praised a lot and criticized minimally, and wanted to talk about what I did, but in a good way. :)
They even enjoyed my wildest thoughts in the conclusion (one of my greatest fears – was I being too daring?). They want me to try to publish it.
I walked out of there almost giggling, and my advisor phoned me in the evening to congratulate me yet again.
I know it sounds like bragging, but I’m so happy.