Today is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia » « No talking about animal sex in academia!

I graduated!

I now have a Bachelor of Science with the Honors curriculum in Biology from Purdue University!

Major 1: Genetic Biology
Major 2: Ecology, Evolution, & Environmental Biology
Minor: Psychology
Honors thesis: Inferring mating habits in banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis) using DNA extracted from copulatory plugs

Wooooo! A big thank you to my family, friends, and instructors for helping me along the way. I now will sound ten times smarter in any debate because I have some letters after my name ;)

And thankfully our commencement ceremony wasn’t too religious. Purdue has four ceremonies due to the sheer number of students, and mine was the last one. The first three had a Lutheran minister speak, and apparently he enjoyed referencing God a lot and asking people to pray during the “Moment of Reflection.” Our commencement got a Rabbi, who was wonderful – he was funny and completely and utterly secular.

Now, I don’t think a public university should designate a time for religious speakers, as that inherently shows a preference for religion over non-religion. Not to mention, even when they try to be diverse, they never include anything outside of Abrahamic religions – when I went a couple years ago (for the grad of my boyfriend at the time) they still just had a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, and a Muslim (no, they didn’t walk into a bar). My big beef is that after the “Moment of Reflection,” the choir sings “Amen” over and over again. Um, yeah, that’s not a moment of reflection…

But anyway, it was nice. Afterward there was a little reception for the College of Science, where my parents got to meet some of my professors. I liked this one interaction with my biology professor from Sophomore year:

Prof: I love meeting parents because I get to see Mendelian genetics in action!
Me: *laughs*
Parents: *awkwardly chuckle because they have no idea what that means*

Then later I got to explain that he was nerdily saying that I looked like both of them, hehe.

I guess I’m officially a scientist now, yaaay!

PS: Oh, and I got recognized by random professors and parents I didn’t know because of Boobquake, hahaha.

Today is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia » « No talking about animal sex in academia!

Comments

  2. says

    Probably should make jokes on this day, but I can’t resist this:Jennifer McCreight (BS) doesn’t exactly make you sound smarter :pBut seriously, congrats.

  9. says

    “PS: Oh, and I got recognized by random professors and parents I didn’t know because of Boobquake, hahaha.”oh yes, you’re internet famous now. random strangers will recognize you and feel like they know you ;-)

  11. Guest says

    Congratulations. Did you compare the DNA of the offspring to the plugs to see if any of the male kangaroo rats switched tactics and popped in for a quickie prior to another male creating a plug? Just wondering.

  16. Tony says

    I was going to make a similar comment to the prof re: genetics, but in less jargony terms. Congratulations.@Adam: true fountain runs became impossible during 2001 when the giant metal phallus was installed. Or has it since been removed?

  18. artfine says

    Congrats on your graduation! (and the fact that a lighting bolt did not strike is sort of like Boobquake — evidence that God may *not* exist (as if anyone God might want to ht with a lightning bolt, it would be a non-believe such as yourself!)On a more serious note, some public universities do NOT require comments from a Abrahamic- based eligion. When I graduated with an English Language arts degree (and journalism minor) from Washington State University in 2005, our spiritual invocation was performed by a Chief of the Yakima Tribe, who had to get permission from tribal elders to perform such a sacred prayer with and for non-triabl members — there is hope!

  19. Villy says

    Congratulations! I’m a little daunted at the prospect of ONE major, so kudos to you!

  21. says

    Assuming the people in the photo are your parents, I will go ahead and say that I agree with your professor and additionally your parent’s are very attractive people. Cheers! Best of luck

  24. says

    Holy crap, my sincerest congrats! Honours, too! Awesome!!Be prepared for people to stop you on the street from hereon in and say “HEY YOU’RE THAT AWESOME CHICK WITH THAT REALLY COOL BLOG PLZ MARRY ME!”You may want to start hiring bodyguards. :D

  25. says

    I can certainly see the Mendelian genetics in action in the picture included here. Your height is about the average of your parents’, and so are your facial features.It’s too bad that I can only see one sample in action. If you have more pictures of parents and their offspring, I may be able to validate the theory with a higher degree of confidence.

  26. Eric Dutton says

    Congratulations!I’m impressed by the fact that you managed two majors AND a blog. I had to shut mine down toward the end of my last semester.

  28. Collin says

    Speaking of Mendelian genetics, it’s kind of funny. You’re right about at the direct midpoint between your parents’ heights.

  35. mcbender says

    Congratulations, Jen. I’m not sure if there’s anything else to say here… hopefully the transition to graduate school is seamless.

  36. the_Siliconopolitan says

    extracted from copulatory plugs

    Somehow I’m not the least bit surprised that this was your chosen topic …Doesn’t “Amen” just mean “So mote it be”?Congraaaaaaats!

  37. NotThatGreg says

    Congrats! There’s a happy Jen and some proud parents. That sounds like a pretty cool thesis (so where’s the download link?). Mine was the much lamer “something network something performance improvements something something”.

  38. Robert says

    Congratulations to you! Use that degree well, and good luck in grad school, or whatever it is you Yanks call getting more more letters around your name. :D

  41. libraboy says

    May the flying spaghetti monster make smooth your path to Seattle with fresh ragout.

  43. Metal_Warrior says

    Congrats! Hope I’ll have those funny little letters too in a few years, although mine would sound like “Dr. rer. nat.” (as it is Germany over here and we love Latin – it sounds so important).As for this year my exams are just beginning…

  47. says

    I see Mendelian genetics has certainly made its mark on you. The observations are noted above, so I will not rehash them. Congratulations on your graduation. You will go on to do great things.Still a student here, for another year and a half. Should be fun, though.

  48. says

    Well done.Like many others, I’m looking forward to watching you make leaps and bounds from there.

  54. Pablo says

    Congrats, Jen.I have heard the Rabbi give the reflection or whatever in the past, and agree he does a good job.I’ve also been there with christian ministers, and for the most part, the experiences have been ok. There was one who went over the line, but the rest were pretty basic and secular.While I would never attend a Purdue commencement voluntarily, I will say that when I have gone, I tend to enjoy it. I always like how it starts very formal and solemn, and as the time moves on it gets lighter and lighter, and by the end it’s just a very happy celebration.And I could listen to Mike Piggot read the phone book all day (which is basically all he is doing when reading names)

  56. Sam says

    Congratulations, Jen. You have already accomplished so much and influenced so many people in a relatively short period of time. I am very impressed.The great thing about education is no one can take it away from you.This old guy in southern Illinois will be following your blog for some time to come and I am definitely looking forward to the next Boobquake!

  57. Pibble says

    Yay, congrats! I think you are officially who I want to be when I grow up, never mind that I got my BSc mumbledy years ago.I’m suddenly grateful for my graduation ceremony (from a small Canadian university)- we had one of the founders of MSF as our speaker followed by a native drumming ceremony.

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