Duc in Altum

My friend, as well as co-worker, Mike graduates today. After fifteen, yes fifteen, years he has completed his Ph.D. in history. I have to hand it to him. I cannot imagine working that long for a doctorate. We are planning on attending the ceremony this afternoon. It will be good to see him receive the degree for which he has exerted so much effort.

I understand that we need to arrive early because, in a bit of an odd setup, the reception with food is prior to the actual ceremony. The whole ceremony should not be very long because it is only for the graduate history students. However, with an eight-month-old, we might have to leave early. Fortunately, if they go by alphabetic order Mike will probably be the first person to receive his degree.

His thesis in the area of history of science and more particularly some aspects of nutrition is considered to be quite good. Mike is being urged by his advisor to have his thesis published. No doubt his advisor means published as a large book because I believe the thesis runs some 800 plus pages. He is not certain whether he will do that or not. At the same time, he wants to look into the academic opportunities that exist for him. He knows that he can fall back on his computer programming experience. However, it would seem a shame for him to not use his Ph.D. to work as a professor. He is a good teacher. If anyone knows any inside academic openings information, I would be happy to pass it on to him, and I am sure he would appreciate it.