Dissertation acknowledgements
On the anniversary of defending my dissertation, I’m sharing the Acknowledgements page from it.
Heartfelt thanks go to the members of my committee for their constructive feedback that improved the quality of this work and my perspective as a researcher. In particular, Dr. Vineetha Menon’s guidance while I “wandered in the woods” was always helpful and insightful. Credit for that characterization belongs to Dr. Howard Chen; encouragement from him, Dr. Lisa Vangsness, Dr. Cheng Chen, Dr. Ana Wooley, Dr. Nicholas Loyd, and Dr. Sara Harper through the highs and lows was great aid in persevering. To my colleagues at OASYS, INC., thank you for your support during this process.
Senator Ann Bedsole left a life-changing footprint at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science on Mobile’s Dauphin Street. My mother wisely recommended to a then-unsure high school sophomore, “Go ahead and apply; you can always say no later but not the other way around.” I am also thankful to Mr. Jerry Padgett for making the decision easier. Former neighbor and IBM employee Mr. John Hall was an early mentor around this time. While at ASMS, instruction, after-class musing, and even road trips with Dr. Albert Lilly, Ms. Susan Rouillier, Ms. Paula Lemmermann, Dr. Benton White, Mr. Scott Bitterman, and Mrs. Alice Peters were formative. Ms. Edna Gentry’s ASPIRE program brought me from ASMS to UAH.
My wife Samantha, our children, my parents Tommy and Suzan, and my brothers all inspire me in their own ways. I would not be who I am without them.
The various renderings in the epigraph are from The Aramaic Scriptures, Vulgate, Tyndale House Greek New Testament, Tyndale’s New Testament, Luther Bibel, Kannada Bible, and finally an approximation in Sindarin, a constructed language of Tolkien. LianTze Lim, Lead pert with Overleaf, provided the configuration for rendering Tengwar script.
May our love of truth never fail.