Approximately 1,750 days after starting the Ph.D. program at American University, I am happy to say I made it through.
Despite the many horror stories recounted by graduate students everywhere, I really enjoyed the vast majority of those days, in which I had the freedom to dedicate much of my time to learning, reading, writing, and sharing ideas with brilliant people. I am grateful for having had this extraordinary privilege. Most of all, I enjoyed it because of the people who accompanied me along the way.
Thank you, first of all to my parents, Tim and Jan Long for their support and love. Thanks to Marta, who was there every step of the way. Thanks to Dr. Robert Pastor, who has been an intellectual and personal mentor. Thanks to Professors Friedman, Atzili, Brenner, Goodman, Weiner, Silvia, Cohn, Tama, and more. Thanks to the two deans of SIS during my time here, Louis Goodman and Jim Goldgeier. I am grateful for the financial and institutional support I received from American University. It was a great place to pursue my studies.
Thanks to my colleagues and close friends in the SIS PhD program. I’m hesitant to add names at the risk of missing anyone amongst the many who have helped me out with their kindness, feedback on many drafts. But I must give my gratitude to Ryan Briggs, Daniel Dye, Sebastian Bitar, Kate Reese, Jason Rancatore, Tazreena Sajjad, Anders Härdig who have journeyed alongside (and ahead of) me. Thank you to the friends I made in USFP, who made this so much more fun–Mariah, Eren, Cannonball, Heather, Kaitie, and many others. Finally, thank you to the friends I made during my travels abroad. All of you (including many I didn’t specifically list) helped make this long process much richer.
Thanks!
Tom
PS – This means I am very much on the job market…
Tom Long, PhD 