Graduation Day

I like how I’m in David’s shadow in this photo. He has shadowed me through this process, helping me through the low points and high fiving me through the good parts.

My “hood” is held in place by a pin from my mom--a butterfly, which seems appropriate--appropriate in the sense of transformation and in the sense of providing support. She was very sorry to miss my big day. It’s taken me a long time to upload photos b/c uploading is very slow on my blog site.

At graduation, I was in the front row because I did Business and Human Rights and the other degrees (corporate governance, criminology, human rights, environmental law, etc. came after “B”). I was the fourth person to go on stage (after three PhDs) because I graduated with distinction. David, however, was behind all the graduates, so got a distant shot of the assembled dignitaries:

And of me shaking hands with Queen’s Chancellor Thomas Moran: From wiki:
“A native New Yorker with ancestral roots in Fermanagh and Cavan, Tom Moran is listed as one of the top 100 Irish-American business people in the USA. He has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company since October 1994, the first person to have been appointed President from within the Company.”

Queen’s first Business and Human Rights LLM class, graduating on Human Rights Day, as it happens. At the back is big Colm, who was my study buddy and provided lots of useful information about the art of writing papers. We did a presentation together on platinum mining in South Africa--so we bonded. He and Marissa McVey, to my left, were in Zurich with me, so we got to know each other.

My hood would not stay in place--I noticed the other women had the same problem. For men, their tie seemed to hold it in place. With my hood askew, you can see another pin, from my Aunt Rosemary. It was good to have my fan club with me in spirit.

Speaking of fans:

My dissertation advisor, Dr. Ciara Hackett:

What I remember of my University of Delaware graduation was not entirely positive. My sister, who attended a small Southern private college, decided to throw me a tailgate party as a present. What few friends I had at the time weren’t graduating with me, so I think only one or two people came. It was embarrassing, but typical of extrovert/introvert siblings. I believe my class (at a school of 14,000) sat together on the football field and stood when our names were called. I turned to wave to my mom and sister, whom I couldn’t see in the stands. And we had to wear a polyester robe that was a weird shade of blue. So the Queen’s experience was much more civilised.

After the ceremony, we went into a large white tent where we had tea and cakes and talked about the future. It was great seeing so many of the people I studied with and to see them so happy. Then I turned in my gown--reluctantly!!--and David and I went out for lunch.

12-10