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Thanks for the First-Rate Education

The following paragraphs are excerpted from an open letter to Michael Shinagel, Dean of Continuing Education and University Extension, and L. Dodge Fernald, Assistant Dean of University Extension:

The purpose of this note is to express my gratitude to the Harvard Extension School. I have been meaning to write this letter for more than a decade.

Let me begin by noting that in 1982 I graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a major in classical guitar performance. In a minor bicycle accident, I injured the uppermost joint of my pinkie--not an important finger, unless you happen to be a classical musician. After two years of visiting hand specialists of every ilk (from President Carter's physical therapist to a noted California acupuncturist), I concluded that it was time to retool and consider a new career.

Luckily, I lived just a few blocks from Harvard Yard and found an Extension School catalogue.

Thumbing through it, I saw a course on psycholinguistics, enrolled in it, and wrote a paper on the relationship between metaphor and music. My instructor liked it, sent it to a colleague at the University of California-Berkeley, and I was hooked. And to think that just three months earlier I was destined to become just another Cambridge cab driver with an extensive knowledge of Gregorian chant.

Without exception, my Harvard Extension School teachers were knowledgeable, accessible, and, most importantly, extremely curious about life and science. My first publication was with Brendan Maher. Then I wrote a book chapter (in Berlin) with David Buss, another of my Harvard teachers. And I will never forget George Goethals, and his faithful dog. George truly gave me the courage to believe in myself and strive for the best. After taking one of his famous courses (where he rolled in a keg of beer on the last day of classes!), George suggested that I apply to Harvard. I was accepted into the PhD program, but decided instead to attend a strong clinical program at the University of Minnesota (though I did complete my ALM in 1989 and happily returned to Harvard to accept a Thomas Small Prize that year).

Now I am an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Davis, and have published my first book, Multivariate Taxometrics: Distinguishing Types from Continua, with SAGE Publications. Neither of these accomplishments would have been possible had I ignored that Extension School catalogue.

Thank you for giving me and so many other students a chance to learn from first-rate intellectuals and mentors.

With Gratitude,
Niels G. Waller, ALM '89

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