July 2, 1:00pm began one of the biggest moments of my life. DISSERTATION DEFENSE! In just under 45 minutes I presented the 310 pages (current count) of my dissertation research. It was amazingly easy presenting, in fact I had almost no nerves once I started presenting. It wasn't that different from all of the practice trials I had done, which made me really glad I had rehearsed it that much.
The questions were good and generally answerable. I did realize into one questioning that I could easily get into a pissing match with this faculty member (not on my committee), but I opted to avoid it and was left alone after the initial questioning. When the committee removed all the outside people the questions were interestingly a little more relaxed, but still challenging. I was confident when they asked me to leave the room, but hearing a raised voice of my adviser made me walk a little further down the hallway. It could have been 5 minutes or 15 that I waited for them, but when my adviser came out to get me there was a smile and a question about how many years it had been. Hugs and congratulations were given and it was done!
I still have corrections to do, and in fact have only been back into school one evening since my defense to look at the dissertation, but I am still waiting on comments from a committee member. But.......otherwise I am DONE!
PhD, PT
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