Not many kids ever get to say “go do your homework” to their parents. Emily Simpson does it all the time.

“It’s kind of funny, but I’ve done it,” laughed Simpson, senior in accounting and finance.

Some days it would go, “What are you doing? OK then, get after it. Go do your homework,” said Emily’s father Steve, director of emergency management at Iowa State.

Emily and Steve will both be graduate this spring. Emily will graduate with two bachelor’s degrees and a minor in history, and Steve with a Ph. D. Their commencement ceremonies will be just hours apart at Hilton Coliseum. They’ve been planning on it happening that way for a while.

“When he first started, he said his planned graduation date was 2015, and I was like, ‘hey, Dad, that’s the same day I’m graduating, how about you not?” Emily said.

She changed her mind.

“I got about a year into it and she said, ‘it’d be really cool if you could graduate with us,’” Steve said. “I had it planned so that it looked like I was going to graduate some time in 2016, but after that my major professor and I decided I needed to graduate with Emily.”

Another member of the family is more excited than either of them.

“Yeah, but I’d honestly say that mom is the most excited. She’s ready to have her husband back,” Emily said.

All the excitement of the deadlines and finals before graduation aside, another big event is arriving up for Emily.

“I’m actually getting married two weeks after,” she said. “It’s very exciting and there’s a lot going on in my life right now.”

Simpson and her fiancé, Nathan Hansen, have known each other since high school and plan to move to Des Moines after they both graduate this spring.

“I think we’ll stay in Des Moines, at least for the foreseeable future,” Simpson said. “I like Iowa. I don’t envision us moving anywhere else.”

Her dad isn’t planning on going anywhere either. Steve has been at Iowa State for 22 years, working with the occupational safety group. He says his dissertation, “A Study of Safety Climate and Employees’ Trust of their Organizational Leadership in University Research Laboratories,” will continue to help him and his colleagues moving forward.

“My going for my Ph.D. was really more focused about our strategic planning as a department, and looking at lab safety and what was happening in lab safety,” he said. “It was a perfect storm. Emily was in college, I had a lot of free time at home, we were working with the College of Engineering, and I had a drive to want to do this and make a difference.”

Even so, getting to graduation while maintaining a full-time job hasn’t been easy.

“It takes a lot of sacrifice, and it’s not just sacrifice on your own part,” Steve said. “Luckily, my family members have been my biggest cheerleaders.”

Steve said the most personally taxing part of his degree program was writing the aforementioned dissertation.

“It took the most energy. I’ve spent the last three months writing, and rewriting and doing the analysis,” he said.

Steve earned his last degree, an MBA, from Hood College in 1992. Now, he will be graduating again shortly after turning 51, and encourages others to go back to school if it matters to them, despite the obstacles.

“I know it sounds corny, but you’re never too old to go after the degree you want to get,” he said. 

Emily said she’s looking forward to being done with homework.

“I can go home and not have a list of stuff going, ‘if you don’t get this done, you’re in trouble,’” she said. “The constant deadlines, wedding planning and other stuff is a little much right now.”

Steve experienced homework following him home at a whole new level because his neighbor, Steve Freeman, has also been Simpson’s major professor.

Even before senioritis hits, a lot of students feel pressure, stress and anxiety while at college. Both of the Simpsons said their support networks of peers have helped them make it this far, as well as having each other in town.

“It’s been nice because we get to play off of each other and keep each other going because you need support. There’s no way you get a Ph.D. by yourself,” Steve said.

Although he is looking forward to graduation just as much as his daughter, Steve said there are things he will miss about being at Iowa State as a student.

“Being here 22 years I’ve always been on the service side, so dealing with laboratories, with facilities or what have you. I’d never really been connected to the student body, and it’s been kind of cool to be a part of that student body … I’ll miss that,” Steve said. 

Emily said she’ll miss the people she’s met at Iowa State too.

“I think that’s the part that I will miss most about Iowa State is the people. That and having a constant peer group around you of people that are all your age and know you. Here, you have all these people you can talk to because they’re living the same experience as you,” she said. “I’ve loved Iowa State, honestly.”

While she has enjoyed her experience, Simpson said she plans to wait to get any more degrees. In the meantime, she’ll work for Roth & Company in Des Moines.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘you should go back and get your MBA,’ but at the same time, you should go back and get your MBA after five, 10, 15 years of working experience because then you’ll have that professional experience to draw on,” Emily said. “Which is good because I need a break for now.”