Paul Burke's Graduation

I went along to Paul Burke's graduation as Doctor of Philosophy at ANU on Friday. As you can see I was in "civilian clothing" and sat in the audience. Here the hooding ceremony is performed by the Chancellor of the University (Gareth Evans) rather than by the graduate's PhD adviser,* as is the practice in the US. Actually, I hadn't been to a graduation in Australia before and there were some other interesting traditions involving a mace and "beadle's staves". As you can see from the picture there are some differences in academic dress between the US and the Commonwealth countries too.

Anyway, congratulations to Paul!

* I was on Paul's committee but not his primary adviser.