The railway cars that line the first floor of the Durham Museum never move, but they have become a familiar backdrop as the graduates of UNMC Graduate Studies begin their own journeys.
For the third time in two years, the Durham Museum was the setting as Ph.D. and M.S. graduates, joined by their beaming mentors, were honored by UNMC leaders in the Graduate Studies Honors Convocation.
See photos from the convocation here.
For a list of the recent graduates, click here.
Dele Davies, M.D., dean of graduate studies, shook the hand of each of the students as they crossed the stage. Dr. Davies said the event has become an important one for the department and the students.
“The students are so excited and so appreciative that they get this recognition, which they don’t get in the commencement ceremony,” Dr. Davies said.
He praised the Office of Graduate Studies staff for anther well-run event, the third since the ceremony was instituted in 2013.
|
|
Chandran Achutan, Ph.D., professor of environmental, agricultural and occupational health in the College of Public Health, was on hand to support his student Mark Shepherd, Ph.D.
“I think it’s a very intimate setting, and it really honors our Ph.D. students,” he said. “It’s nice to have a setting for our graduates to honor them.”
Artem Lada, Ph.D., graduated almost a year ago, but wasn’t able to attend the convocation. He wanted to come back and take part in this year’s ceremony to celebrate his Ph.D. in cancer research.
“I think it’s important because it’ll be very nice for my family and my parents back in Russia to see the pictures, to see that I participated,” he said. “But also my friends here are going to be participating, and I think it’s nice to come together and meet with friends and mentors.”
Dr. Shepherd returned from a job in Texas to take part in the ceremony, being recognized for his Ph.D. in environmental health, occupational health and toxicology.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” he said. “It was important to me because it was a difficult accomplishment to keep working and finish a Ph.D., so I don’t know if there’s anybody else like that, but it’d be nice to be an encouragement for anybody doing that.
“Plus my advisor was here, and I wouldn’t have missed him for the world, because he was the only reason I was able to get through this process.”
“I think it’s great to see not only your own accomplishments but also to hear about your individual classmates and everything that they are doing,” said Alicia Schiller, Ph.D. “To interact with the faculty — it’s very rare that everybody is in the same room, so it’s kind of like your favorite people are all in the same place. It feels a little like a wedding to me.”