A Scholar & A Mentor

Wilga Rivers, professor of romance languages and literatures, emerita

The scholarly accomplishments of Wilga Rivers, professor of romance languages and literatures, emerita, are striking--even by Harvard standards. A recognized national and international authority on the psychological and linguistic aspects of language teaching, she is the author and co-author of 13 books and nearly 80 articles on various aspects of language teaching, she has lectured at conferences in 43 foreign countries and most states in the US, and she is the recipient of numerous foreign language awards, including the most distinguished leadership award of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Professor Rivers left the faculty of the University of Illinois to join Harvard's Department of Romance Languages and Literatures in 1974, taking her place among only a handful of tenured female professors at the University. As coordinator of romance languages, she improved the offerings in French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. Her program innovations, including courses geared to career objectives, resulted in a rapid 66 percent increase in foreign language enrollments and placed Harvard in the vanguard of Ivy League foreign language programs.

Since Professor Rivers had long been a keen supporter of continuing education, in part because her sister had earned her college degree at night in their native Australia, she gladly accepted Dean Michael Shinagel's 1979 invitation to teach her course--LING E-200 Theory and Practice of Language Teaching--at the Harvard Extension School, and she has been teaching it ever since. "Extension School students have always been among my favorites," she says. "They have experiences they want to share, and they really want to be here."

Her participation at the Extension School has extended beyond the classroom. In 1978 she joined the Extension School's Administrative Board, a position she held until her retirement from Harvard University in 1990. She also has served as a thesis advisor to many students concentrating in linguistics in the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) Program.

Professor Rivers is an excellent teacher, she received a perfect score on her last instructor rating, but she is also--and perhaps more importantly--a valued mentor. As a matter of course she advises her students on graduate programs, lends them supplementary material, helps them pursue career opportunities, invites them to her annual cookout, and stays in touch with them through e-mail. "A number of my Extension School students are on my Christmas letter list," she says, "and I am even the godmother to a child of one of my students."

At the age of 81 she shows few signs of slowing down, continuing to speak to audiences around the world and already planning her Extension School course for next spring. "I see myself as a collector of people," she says proudly, "and I plan to continue collecting for as long as I can."