Hello All,
Soon I will be going on vacation for two weeks after my second summer session at Gonzaga. As usual it was jam-packed and ended so quickly. Our new students were nicely folded into the DPLS family by you summer veterans. Several told me they really appreciated how you welcomed them into the doctoral program and showed them the ropes. Several of you veterans also told me that this is probably your last physical time at Gonzaga, that you are on to data collecting and/or dissertation writing. We all wish you the best of luck as you continue to pursue your goal of getting your PhD. We know that you will stay in touch with your Dissertation Chair, but from time to time drop the rest of us an email, blog, or whatever.
This summer we shared pain (yes, some are still trying to get through Quant), community (we had an Akwaaba dinner and a Root Beer Float study break), and laughter (classes are not all stress and turmoil). The picture that best captures the summer for me is the photo above with (L-R) Sandy Molendyk, Norman Coulter, and Julene Tegerstrand, all three new to the program. They have similar and different interests; they are from and have traveled around the world; and they have a sense of adventure, evidenced by their participation in Spokane’s Dirty Run. Oh, yeah, they got down and dirty in the mud at Riverside State Park on July 19. I was witness. I saw the mud, I felt their dirt, I hosed them down before we drove home, and I saw three new doctoral students bond as they supported each other and finished together at the end of the Run. What a wonderful experience in the middle of an intense summer. Our goal next year is to each bring one more: that would be 3 more runners and one more cheer squad member. So pack an extra pair of old, really old running shoes and plan on running the Dirty Run with the 4 plus 4 (or more) next Summer 2015.
Thank you all for a great 2013-2014 and the wonderful beginning to a 2014-2015. Please take some summer time for yourselves either alone or with friends or family before you are in earnest back at your jobs and/or research and/or the bunches of other stuff we all do.
JoAnn Barbour,
Assoc. Professor and Chair, DPLS