Awards/Accomplishments 5/20/12

Son of local residents earn doctoral degree

Dustin Michael, a Cape Girardeau Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University graduate and the son of Victoria Michael of Cape Girardeau, graduated May 12 from the University of Missouri in Columbia with his wife, Neesha Navare, daughter of Dr. Chris and Connie Navare of Hilton Head, S.C. Both completed a doctor of philosophy degree in English with emphasis on nonfiction creative writing. Michael's dissertation is titled "Passengers and Baggage: Essays of Place and Travel." Navare's is "Night and Day, a Memoir." She is the director of writing at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. Michael is a professor in the Department of English at the University of South Carolina in Bluffton, S.C.