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Better Late Than Never

A quarter-century after enrolling, a PhD earns his stripes  A quarter-century after enrolling, a PhD earns his stripes John O'Brien enrolled in Cornell's doctoral program in the history of architecture in the fall of 1984. Five years later he was granted a master's degree—and a full two decades after that, he finished his dissertation. O'Brien's […]

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A quarter-century after enrolling, a PhD earns his stripes
 

A quarter-century after enrolling, a PhD earns his stripes

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John O'Brien enrolled in Cornell's doctoral program in the history of architecture in the fall of 1984. Five years later he was granted a master's degree—and a full two decades after that, he finished his dissertation.

O'Brien's degree was delayed, in part, by his work as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. But his biggest roadblock was medical: in 1995, he was injured in an accident and became a C-6 quadriplegic. Much of his dissertation research—on the centrally planned churches of architect Bernardo Antonio Vittone— was done on the Web, through interlibrary loan, and with the aid of friends in Italy who copied books and journal articles for him. (Although most of his fingers are paralyzed, he has some use of his arms and hands; with adaptive equipment he can grip a pen and type with it.) "It certainly limited my travel," says O'Brien, who visited Vit-tone's churches before his injury. "In the pre-Internet era, my research probably would have been severely limited as well."

A native of Memphis, O'Brien holds a BA in art history from the University of Memphis, plus bachelor's degrees in architecture and medieval cultural studies from the University of Tennessee. (Says O'Brien with a laugh: "It's called being a professional student.") After his injury, he says, "things got put on hold for a good while," but he eventually resumed his doctoral work under architecture professor Christian Otto. "Professor Otto would frequently ask when things would be wrapped up, but no one put pressure on me," he says. "There were times I didn't know if I'd get it done, but I always plugged away at it."

He defended the dissertation several years ago via teleconference, then set about making corrections and compiling nearly 250 illustrations. The Openwork Dome as Sacred Theater was accepted in May—running 911 pages, including images and a hefty bibliography. Although he was unable to attend Commencement, he'll soon receive his diploma and bound volumes of the thesis, which he hopes to have published along with more recent research. "It feels wonderful," he says. "But the real happiness is that I don't have to work on the dissertation anymore."

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