The Dissertation House

Helping to move you from ABD to PhD!


PhD Completion:

Greetings Dr. Tull,

I just wanted to touch bases with you.  I wasn’t sure if I let you know that I successfully defended my dissertation in January and will be participating in the graduation this week at UMB.  I wanted to extend a heart-felt thanks to you and the PROMISE family for providing an outlet and forum for me to “get away” from the daily stresses of graduate school.  However at the same time reminding me to focus on my studies and get done!

Thanks so much for your support over the past few years even though I was not able to participate as much in my last year or so.  I hope that this program continues to grow and encourages other students of color to pursue the PhD!

~Sarice R. Boston, Ph.D.

University of Maryland Baltimore

School of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

May 2011

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Hi Dr. Carter,

I just wanted to let you know that I passed my dissertation defense!  Thanks for all of your work and the support of the PROMISE staff.  The Dissertation House was a huge help in getting me through this process.

Best,

Amy Carrillo

Psychology, UMBC

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Dear Dr. Carter,
I wanted to let you know that I successfully defended my dissertation on Friday! I am so excited and wanted to thank you for your contribution to my education process. I do not think I would have come this far without the Promise Program and your work with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
-Barbara Boswell
University of Maryland College Park

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Thank you so much Dr. Tull and Dr. Carter for the warm wishes, thoughts and celebrating with me!  I deeply appreciate your support and all of the incredible work that you do with PROMISE!

The defense was incredible (I never thought I would say this but I felt so much joy in sharing my research with the committee and guests)…  I was given very minor edits and revisions to complete following the defense– and as of yesterday night– I am done!  All revisions and edits are now completed, everything is signed off on and my dissertation has been posted:)

Bless you both!

Happy holidays,

Jennifer Bacon

University of Maryland College Park

Assistant Professor, Iona College, 2011

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I successfully defended my dissertation on Nov. 23–much appreciation to you and the DH week in July for giving me the final push! I just finished up revisions over the holiday, which I am reviewing with my advisor this Friday.
Glad to pitch in as a speaker/resource for any future activities you might organize. You are doing a wonderful job!

Best, Bill

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Yes, I successfully defended yesterday! It went very well. I appreciate all of the work that you helped me with last summer–I rally feel like I turned the corner after the week long session.

Thank you so much. Yesterday was fun–I guess it’s like that when you feel prepared.

Again, thanks for your help!

Wendell D. Hall

EDHI Doctoral Program

University of Maryland College Park

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Completing a funding  proposal:

Hi, Drs. Carter and Tull —
I wanted to let you know some good news! When I participated in Dissertation House last summer, one of my goals for developing my proposal was to send off a grant application to a couple of a different agencies for potential funding of my dissertation research. I worked for several weeks to prepare my materials and sent those applications off to both the Ruth Kirschstein NRSA F31 and the AHRQ R36 Dissertation Grant.  I was awarded the AHRQ R36 Dissertation Grant, which allows me to focus entirely on my dissertation for the next 12 months! I’m very excited!
I want to thank both of you for allowing me the opportunity to participate in DH, which I feel enabled me to really streamline my proposal and make good progress during those initial months; the mentoring and dedicated time provided in DH is irreplaceable and I hope to be able to participate again in the winter months, when I am closer to finishing my work.
Again, thank you both.
Susan Hannum
Gerontology, UMBC
June 2011

 

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Completing the dissertation proposal:

Hello Dissertation House Doctors!

I just wanted to thank you for all your help during Dissertation House this past summer. I just successfully defended my dissertation proposal defense today! Since I defended before the October 1st deadline, I’ll be able to apply to internship this fall. Hope everything is going well for you and maybe I’ll see you again for another Dissertation House to work on my final product.

Have a great day,

Meredith Holmgren

Human Services Psychology

Moderator Note: Meredith finished the Ph.D. in 2011

More …

For more testimonials and stories about The Dissertation House, visit the PROMISE Community Building blog, and type “Dissertation House” in the Search box:  http://promisecommunitybuilding.blogspot.com.

One response to “Testimonials”

  1. Kimberly Reaves Avatar
    Kimberly Reaves

    Geesh! What a day… Stumbled in late and got some really dirty looks, so I won’t do that again. LOL. Much of the day was spent pulling articles. I have to admit I lost my way; it seems pretty easy to lose my way these days. Lol! I was able to fine-tune my Problem Statement and I also managed to put some scope around this “monster of a project”.

    I often ask myself, “What is wrong with you?” I have to be literally out-o-my-mind to have signed up for such a painful process.. Writing a dissertation is brutal! I’ll have you know that I am actually enjoying it though; this is a good type of pain. They say “misery loves company”; at least I am not in this thing alone. LOL.

    Tomorrow, I intend to take a deep-dive into the articles that I retrieved and hopefully, get some reading done. Before the day is done tomorrow, I will have the questions from the proposal cookbook answered.

    Feeling encouraged…

    That’s all I’ve got… Until tomorrow guys!!!

    Reply

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What is dissertation house?


The Dissertation House program is an intensive writing retreat designed to help graduate students overcome the barriers that often impede progress on their dissertations. Developed by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the program provides a supportive and structured environment where students can focus on their writing, receive feedback, and learn effective time management and goal-setting strategies. Over several days, students work in groups, participate in workshops, and receive coaching from experienced facilitators. The Dissertation House program has been highly successful in helping students make significant progress on their dissertations. It is widely regarded as a valuable resource for graduate students seeking to complete their degrees.

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