Congratulations Dr. Ruth Wilson!

Need some feel-good news today? Please congratulate Dr. Ruth Wilson. She just received her PhD in English from the University of Sydney—at age 89. Ruth's fine dissertation on Jane Austen, "Milestones in a Reading Life," brilliantly brings together reading memoir, reception studies, and the history of education and pedagogy. Her dissertation committee assembled Austen scholars from three continents! Ruth's mentor/examiner team included Drs. Rebecca Johinke, Olivia Murphy, and Katie Halsey, with whom I had the pleasure of serving as an external examiner. Among other things, Ruth's fascinating work describes seeing the 1940 MGM Pride and Prejudice, when it was first released. She was brought to the theatre by her film-loving parents. It turned out to be an exposure to Austen that lasted a lifetime and ultimately led her to this doctoral degree. Ruth is amazing, and she wants to take her original research on Austen, school curricula, and the history of memoir and memory into the wider world, in book and article form. That's absolutely as it should be. Her work deserves a wider audience.

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