Grad School Bound, Where I Belong

Just a quick note for those that care… I’m headed to graduate school! It was expected, but I finally got my offical acceptance letter yesterday in the mail, and I will be attending San Angelo State starting this spring to pursue a masters degree in biology. My thesis will most likely focus on some aspect of community ecology in birds. I’ll have to do some leveling work the first semester. So far I’ll be taking undergrad classes in genetics, biostatistics, and evolution. I’d like to talk my way out of the evolution class. I feel like Abilene Christian did a good job covering the subject, but alas, you’ll never find a class titled such on an ACU transcript. Oh well. I’m sure I can learn much from it.

I’m quite excited (even if a little scared) about this next phase in my life. A couple of weeks ago, I visited the campus with my wife to meet with the professor I’ll be studying under, Terry Maxwell. It was a delightful visit.

One of the funniest moments came as we (Dr. Maxwell, my wife, and I) were crossing campus to visit the admissions office. There was a dead Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) on the ground, and Dr. Maxwell picked it up to stick in Angelo State’s freezer, to be prepared later for their natural history collection. He left the bird outside when we visited with the admissions folk, but on the way back to his office, we took a detour through the campus center as he wanted to show it to us. Dead dove in hand, we walked past throngs of students, people in business suits and dresses, and workers getting various end of year festivities setup. He would occasionally point to something, dove in hand. I think my wife was a little surprised and trying not to laugh.

Afterwards, at my request, Dr. Maxwell graciously showed us the natural history collection, a modest but very respectable collection of bird and mammal preserved specimens. (Scientists use these collections for research and teaching). My wife bumped her head on the wall-mounted hyena donated by the San Antonio Zoo when we walked in the door, and she was a little startled at first. I think she enjoyed it, though probably not as much as I did.

Yeah, this is where I belong.