hooded

Congratulations to Lauren! This was my first hooding...previous graduates whom I've supervised haven't opted to walk across the stage in a formal ceremony, so I was both super-pleased to participate, and super-apprehensive.  I even watched a short USC-provided video called How To Hood Your Graduate, a title that seemed rather like How to Catch Your Pony.  In any case, I managed to lasso and saddle Lauren perfectly easily (there were indeed a few colleagues in far-distant departments who seemed to get in an unfathomable tangle, and one who brought a step-ladder on which to stand as he hooded an exceptionally tall woman.  I hope he cleared this supposedly amusing gesture with her beforehand: she didn't look as though she was exceptionally happy about it).  Here's Lauren after the ceremony, with her husband Gary Don Brophy.  Her dissertation was terrific - on the art collection of Samuel Kress (he of Department Store fame), and what this meant not just for the mid-century reception of Early Modern Art in America, but what the implications for the very nature of a collection might be, if it's quite deliberately disseminated in art museums across the country.  I learned a very great deal from it - and she's to be applauded for all the endless hours of archival work that led to her smart conclusions.  I'd say that I'll miss her - but the great thing about grad students is that I know that one stays in touch.

As you can see, it's unseasonably grey.