Congratulations, Dr. Amber!

I have to give a shout out to my good friend Amber today because now we can officially call her DOCTOR! Yesterday she submitted the final copy of her dissertation to KU along with all the necessary paperwork to be granted her PhD! She actually successfully defended her dissertation a couple of weeks ago, so in theory we probably could have started calling her Dr. at that point, but she decided that she wouldn't really be finished until all the dissertation edits were complete and the paperwork was done. Now it's officially official!

Amber has been working on her doctorate in Communication Studies since about 2005 when she finished her master's in that department, which she started in 2002. That means she's been going to graduate school for almost 6 years, all while teaching at KU as a graduate teaching assistant, which I personally cannot imagine. I could barely stand four years of undergraduate classes! While 6 years might sound like a long time to many of us, the average time for someone to finish a master's and a PhD at KU is actually over 10 years! The average age for a doctoral candidate is around 34, and Amber has hers finished before her 30th birthday! I think she's pretty amazing.

The only bad part about Amber finishing school is that now that means she and her husband Jake are leaving Lawrence! AAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK! I can't tell you how sad I am about our dear friends moving on. This fall Amber will be starting her career as a college professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. They will be living somewhere in the DC area as Jake begins his teaching career at George Washington University. They're all about those presidents, aren't they? While we're very sad about our friends leaving us in just a few months, we're trying to look on the bright side: Washington, DC will be a wonderful place to visit!

Congratulations, Dr. Amber! We're very proud of you!! :)