Acknowledging my deceased grandpas in my dissertation

[Hope.for.the.best]

Finally, after an eventual year, I am about to submit my PhD dissertation. I have been writing the acknowledgement back and forth. I adequately acknowledged my advisors and colleagues. However, I only have a few sentences dedicated to my family, which I feel that is not enough. Would that be okay to acknowledge my deceased grandpas there?

My maternal grandpa passed away 8 years ago, to the disease that my dissertation is about. When he was alive, he always asked me to persist in spite of difficulties, so I feel it is relevant to acknowledge that. 

My paternal grandpa passed away last year to another disease, but he had always been very supportive to me. 

Is that okay to write something like, "I wish you could have been here with me. I hope I have made you proud"?

My school does not have any specific requirements for acknowledgement. 

Thank you. 

 

[Adelaide9216]

I don't know which field you're in, but I believe this is okay. I've even had a social work prof make an acknowledgment to her mother who passed away from cancer in a journal article that was specifically about terminal illness. 

PS : I'm sorry for your losses.

[fuzzylogician]

Perfectly fine. My dedication reads 

“To my grandparents and their families,
who history has forgotten.”

and frankly I don’t care what anybody thinks about that. 

 

[TakeruK]

This is definitely okay! Usually the "dedication" is something short and either whimsical or serious/formal (i.e. just one or two lines like fuzzy's example) and the "acknowledgments" are longer. Most schools do not place any requirements on the acknowledgements you want, and it's one of the few places where you have almost absolute freedom to write whatever you want. Even the most formal scholar would likely write something personal here, I think.

In my acknowledgements, I dedicated one paragraph for my advisors, current and past, one for my friends and two for family. I always find the acknowledgments the most fun part of the thesis to read. And, as you might have seen quoted (but never backed up with stats), the acknowledgement is often the first and only thing that people read. Anecdotally, I know that I have purposefully looked up dissertations only to read their acknowledgments. Personally, I feel that in the sciences, we do too much "depersonalization" of science and I think there is no need to overly distance ourselves from our work. So, I purposely seek out dissertation acknowledgments to get a peek at someone's personal / more human side.

If you check your dissertation requirements, you might find even more opportunities to personalize your dissertation, if that's what you want to do. For example, although the thesis template provided by the school didn't have a placeholder for a front matter quotation, I found that in the policies, this is an optional section that's allowed. So I added a quote that has inspired me most of my adult life and really kept me going through grad school (I just have a page with the quote there, with no explanation of it). One of my committee members had a picture of his cat on his dedication page (the thesis was also dedicated to his cat). 

Finally, while not recommended for everyone, many people I know have snuck little inside jokes or references into the actual text of their dissertation. Sometimes they are subtle but sometimes they are not! I've read one where after a long paragraph on math, the text reads something like, "If you're one of my committee members and you are still reading along, let me know and I'll buy you a drink." (the person later told me that only one of their committee members said they saw that line). I think this is pretty funny and it's great that people feel like doing this. Personally, I enjoy seeing this type of humour but I don't enjoy producing it myself, so I kept the main body strictly scientific. But that's just me. Given your other posts here with your worries about the text, you probably don't want to do something like that yourself, but just letting you know what I've seen out there.

[Hope.for.the.best]

15 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

If you check your dissertation requirements, you might find even more opportunities to personalize your dissertation, if that's what you want to do. For example, although the thesis template provided by the school didn't have a placeholder for a front matter quotation, I found that in the policies, this is an optional section that's allowed. So I added a quote that has inspired me most of my adult life and really kept me going through grad school (I just have a page with the quote there, with no explanation of it). One of my committee members had a picture of his cat on his dedication page (the thesis was also dedicated to his cat). 

Finally, while not recommended for everyone, many people I know have snuck little inside jokes or references into the actual text of their dissertation. Sometimes they are subtle but sometimes they are not! I've read one where after a long paragraph on math, the text reads something like, "If you're one of my committee members and you are still reading along, let me know and I'll buy you a drink." (the person later told me that only one of their committee members said they saw that line). I think this is pretty funny and it's great that people feel like doing this. Personally, I enjoy seeing this type of humour but I don't enjoy producing it myself, so I kept the main body strictly scientific. But that's just me. Given your other posts here with your worries about the text, you probably don't want to do something like that yourself, but just letting you know what I've seen out there.

I will definitely keep things professional rather than casual. That's why I asked how I can acknowledge my deceased grandpas without being too personal. They are indeed very important to me and I really wished they could see me complete PhD.

I also keep a cat, but I will not mention her there, because not all people are okay with someone who is that into pets. Some people have negative views towards that, and I don't wish anyone (especially examiners) who reads my acknowledgement has prejudice against me for that reason. Of course, I am going to buy her some good treats and thank the joy she gave me  

[Eigen]

At my school, what you wrote in your acknowledgement was entirely up to you, as was any dedication. Personally, I had around 2 pages, and used the time to really think about the people that had gotten me to where I was in both large and small ways, including a deceased grandfather who was a professor and my deceased father. 

I also definitely mentioned pets.

[TakeruK]

31 minutes ago, Hope.for.the.best said:

I don't wish anyone (especially examiners) who reads my acknowledgement has prejudice against me for that reason. Of course, I am going to buy her some good treats and thank the joy she gave me  

That's fair! I know all of my examiners very well since I've worked with them for the past five years so I knew what was good and what wasn't. I also knew that my advisor fully supports me so that if one person wanted to be a jerk about something I wrote in my acknowledgements or dedication then my advisor would have shut them down.

However, I forgot to also mention: the version of the dissertation I submitted to my committee did not contain my acknowledgements! Partly because they were not written yet and partly because I wanted to say very nice things about them but didn't want to include it and have them see it before they made their final decision. It is my university's policies that the committee does not need to see the final version (unless they request it). Since no one requested to read my dissertation after the exam, the acknowledgements were entered without anyone else ever reading it. Some of my colleagues added a whole chapter after their defense because they got more work done (you have a month after your defense date to submit your final thesis). I imagine in these cases their supervisor at least read that new chapter.

[Hope.for.the.best]

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

That's fair! I know all of my examiners very well since I've worked with them for the past five years so I knew what was good and what wasn't. I also knew that my advisor fully supports me so that if one person wanted to be a jerk about something I wrote in my acknowledgements or dedication then my advisor would have shut them down.

However, I forgot to also mention: the version of the dissertation I submitted to my committee did not contain my acknowledgements! Partly because they were not written yet and partly because I wanted to say very nice things about them but didn't want to include it and have them see it before they made their final decision. It is my university's policies that the committee does not need to see the final version (unless they request it). Since no one requested to read my dissertation after the exam, the acknowledgements were entered without anyone else ever reading it. Some of my colleagues added a whole chapter after their defense because they got more work done (you have a month after your defense date to submit your final thesis). I imagine in these cases their supervisor at least read that new chapter.

I really wished I were in your school! My school is very strict with examiners. Anyone who has worked with a student cannot examine his/her dissertation. I just know my examiners by names and publications. I know one of them is a leading expert who has changed the dogma of my field. He is well-known internationally, and it is my pleasure to have him as an examiner. However, I am worried at the same time because he knows so much. My other examiners have basic knowledge of my field, but don't know that much as him. I am going to send out a manuscript of my PhD work. It's highly likely that he will be the reviewer of my manuscript too. If he is not happy with my dissertation, he will not be happy with my manuscript. Let's hope that he appreciates my dissertations rather than examining it in a critical way.

My school requires dissertation to be complete at submission, i.e. including acknowledgement. That's why I need to be careful, as I don't know my examiners. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Hope.for.the.best

[TakeruK]

8 hours ago, Hope.for.the.best said:

I really wished I were in your school! My school is very strict with examiners. Anyone who has worked with a student cannot examine his/her dissertation. I just know my examiners by names and publications. I know one of them is a leading expert who has changed the dogma of my field. He is well-known internationally, and it is my pleasure to have him as an examiner. However, I am worried at the same time because he knows so much. My other examiners have basic knowledge of my field, but don't know that much as him. I am going to send out a manuscript of my PhD work. It's highly likely that he will be the reviewer of my manuscript too. If he is not happy with my dissertation, he will not be happy with my manuscript. Let's hope that he appreciates my dissertations rather than examining it in a critical way.

My school requires dissertation to be complete at submission, i.e. including acknowledgement. That's why I need to be careful, as I don't know my examiners. 

Wow, that's really strict and different! I just wanted to provide context for my answers since they might not apply if your school is so strict. I think my school is more typical of North American schools (where the other advice was also coming from, I think). Although many schools will have a single outside examiner (i.e. not from the same school), my school also did not require that. What you're doing sounds right and smart based on your requirements! Good luck