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Highest academic achievement honored

Provost Dan Rich

3:52 p.m., July 7, 2005--“The award of a doctoral degree is the highest level of academic attainment at universities around the world. By your success, you honor not only yourself, but also the entire University of Delaware community of which you are a part.”

With these words, Provost Dan Rich addressed the Doctoral Dinner and Hooding Ceremony, sponsored by the Office of Graduate Studies on May 25 in the Trabant University Center, speaking to graduating doctoral students, their families and their faculty advisers.

The ceremony provides special recognition for graduate students who are receiving their doctorates, according to Mary Martin, assistant provost for graduate students. At the ceremony, doctoral students are recognized and hooded by their advisers and wear their academic regalia at Commencement the next day. Three spring and one winter hooding ceremonies have been held.

In his talk, Rich pointed out that the attrition rate for those who enter doctoral programs is about 50 percent. “You come from all parts of the globe, and while each of your life stories is unique, you all share a common, achieved goal of earning the highest academic degree in the world. Precisely because the journey has not been an easy one, I hope that you are feeling even more proud of what you have accomplished,” he said.

The doctoral degree was first attributed to the University of Bologna in the 12th Century to an individual who “had demonstrated a long and productive career in scholarship,” Rich said, and, by the 19th Century, the degree was granted for independent and original research in a specialized field of study. Johns Hopkins University was the first U.S. university to confer doctoral degrees.

“Graduate education in general and doctoral education in particular is a key component to the University of Delaware’s mission and identity,” Rich said. “Our University offers doctoral study in 43 fields and master’s degrees in 105 fields. Graduate students make up nearly 18 percent of the students at the University and that proportion is growing.”

Pointing our that first UD doctorates were awarded in chemistry and in chemical engineering in 1948 when there were fewer than 150 graduate students, Rich said, “Today, UD is classified as an extensive doctoral research university. This is the highest Carnegie classification awarded to fewer than 4 percent of U.S. accredited colleges and universities.”

Citing the national decrease of doctoral degrees since 1998, Rich said the number of doctoral degrees at UD has increased from 131 in 1994 to 218 this year--172 Ph.D. degrees, 15 Ed.D. degrees and 31 DPT (doctor of physical therapy) degrees.

“Nationally, over 50 percent of doctorates are now awarded to women as compared with less than 30 percent two decades ago. The number of African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic-American students receiving doctorates increased over the last decade. These patterns hold for the University of Delaware,” Rich said.

Rich, with Cheri Johnson and Bahira Sherif-Trask

At the hooding ceremony, four $1,000 dissertation awards also were presented.

Yinbo Li received the Allan P. Colburn Prize in Engineering and Mathematical Sciences for research in electrical and computer engineering for "Nonlinear Signal Processing in the Complex Domain and Higher Dimensions." His adviser is Gonzalo R. Arce, Charles Evans Black Professor of Electrical Engineering and chairperson of the department.

Katherine Harback received the George Herbert Ryden Prize in Social Sciences for research in economics for "Airport Takeoff and Landing Queues, Air Carrier Self-Imposed Congestion and the Internalization Debate." Her adviser is Joseph I. Daniel, associate professor of economics.

Cheryl Wilson received the Wilbur Owen Sypherd Prize in Humanities for research in English for “Choreography and Counterpoint: Dance and Narrative in 19th-Century British Women’s Writing.” Her advisers are Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies, and Maria H. Frawley, former English faculty member.

Erin Brachman received the Theodore Wolf Prize in Physical and Life Sciences for research in biology for “Regulation of Targeted Gene Repair by DNA Replication.” Her adviser is Eric B. Kmiec, professor of biology.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photos by Grew Drew

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