My baby sister (well, she turns 56 this year) recently successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and was awarded her doctorate in Bioethics from Loyola University in Chicago.
This coming Saturday, there will be a family gathering to celebrate this achievement (along with seven or eight birthdays our family has for the month – my parents were married at the end of August in 1951). She’s the first of any of my siblings to have earned ANY college degree (to tell you the truth, she might still be the only one, AFAIK), and this puts a nice topper on her academic career. We’re all justly proud of her.
Anyway, OTHER than offering to pick up the tab on her student loans, what’s a fitting gift for a newly-minted doctor in academe?
Well, as I was reading I was thinking the answer was “money”.
But maybe gift cards to nice restaurants, if she likes eating out. That could be a good way to kick back. I imagine she’s had a lot of stress, and good food and drinks could help relieve that.
I had a college professor who carried around a battered, but very sturdy, leather briefcase. It wasn’t like a businessman’s briefcase–more like a satchel type. Very attractive. Had obviously been expensive.
She said it was given to her when she defended her dissertation. I always thought that was nice–nicer still that she carried it around.
For my doctorate, my parents gave me a really nice frame for my diploma. It’s about 24"x18", includes a nice line drawing of some recognizable buildings on the campus of my alma mater, and a nice configuration of matting and frame. It’s a step up from the basic vinyl diploma holder that the school gives you. If you Google “diploma holder” or “diploma frame,” you should be able to find multiple vendors who make something appropriate for your sister’s school.
My husband received one of those, too. It was well-used and well-loved. It had an engraved plate with his initials, followed by the PhD and the graduation date.
