Sunday, May 20, 2007

My Wife is a Mistress

(Shouldn't women who get Master's degrees really get Mistress's degrees?)

Yesterday was graduation, and Kansas University conferred the degree of Master of Public Health on her. Not only that, but they gave her the Analee E. "Betsy" Beisecker Public Health Excellence Award - she was selected as the best student of the program!

She started working toward this degree several years ago, taking advantage of an employer tuition plan, and has stuck with it through classes she didn't like, through distracting pressures of work and home, and hundreds of excuses to do other things with her time. Throughout, it has been pure intellectual curiosity that has motivated her - there's no direct benefit to earning the degree, such as an automatic pay raise or promotion.

She earned a perfect 4.0. She never settled for doing "okay" in a class she didn't particularly like, nor did she focus less attention on the classes taught by professors she didn't enjoy. She worked diligently on a thesis - producing original research and winning Honors.

It was interesting to see the group of fellow-graduates. Some were in their early twenties, and some were in their forties. Some were already MDs, and some were fresh from undergraduate programs. Many or most had multiple degrees, but my wife was one who launched into the program after a two-decade break from classroom education.

Obviously, I'm quite proud of my wife/mistress. She's a private person who I tend to avoid mentioning in this space, but she was awfully cute in her cap and gown!

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8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats to your wife! That's awesome!

5/20/2007 11:42 AM  
Blogger Blue Girl, Red State said...

Congrats to the Mistress! School and adult responsibilities are a tough mix. Kudos!

5/20/2007 2:29 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

Well dne!

5/20/2007 8:10 PM  
Blogger Spyder said...

Way to go Girl! You deserve that new car!

Dan, now that it's official that she is an especially intelligent person you better stay on your toes!

5/20/2007 10:03 PM  
Blogger Blue Girl, Red State said...

I'm actually jealous - both of my degrees were mailed to me. I had to finish five weeks early the first time and three weeks early the second to accommodate my husbands orders to a new billet. So I never got the party, either. Probably has something to do with why I'm still chipping away. So I have to get a doctorate? I'm going to graduate in costume one of these days!

5/20/2007 10:31 PM  
Blogger Jim said...

Congratulations Mistress. Dan is a lucky man!

5/21/2007 8:19 AM  
Blogger Melinda said...

Very cool. It takes balls to decide to go back to school, and more dedication than you thought possible to finish when life's little distractions can interfere.

5/23/2007 8:15 PM  
Blogger pom. said...

Hurrah! Yay! Congrats to her!

6/12/2007 11:27 PM  

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