Comfort Rickets of Nigeria, center, received her doctor of philosophy degree in applied economics Friday [Dec. 9] during graduation at Mississippi State. Rickets, whose mother traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for the ceremony, was robed by Mike Highfield, finance and economics department head, and Sharon Oswald, dean of the College of Business. This weekend's commencement sent more than 1,200 graduates into the next chapter of their lives, with Rickets becoming a visiting assistant professor at New Mexico State University. Full photo album available at facebook.com/msstate.