The Transforming Extension School Experience

Student Address to Graduate Degree Recipients

by Daniel Levenson, ALM ’06

Daniel Levenson

It is hard for me to recall exactly when I first heard about the Harvard Extension School. Most likely I learned of its existence from my late grandfather, a physician by training and in practice, but a man possessed of a deep love of knowledge and learning well beyond medicine. His bookshelves were lined with volumes of world history, philosophy, and literature, and in the course of his life he took many classes for the pure pleasure of learning at the Harvard Extension School. I’m sure he must have mentioned it to me more than once, planting the seed somewhere in my brain so that when the time came for me to think about graduate school, I found my way to the Extension website. At first I thought I might take a course or two in English and American literature, and if I liked them I would stay; and if not, maybe I would apply to a full-time graduate program somewhere else. I can still recall nervously navigating my way through the Yard the first evening of classes, looking for Sever Hall, then for the right classroom. I took three classes my first semester, and I was hooked from the outset.

After an undergraduate experience that had been composed mainly of large lectures, the opportunity to learn in a smaller, more intimate environment was exactly the kind of learning milieu I had sought before, but rarely found. That first semester I took all seminars and was thrilled with the level of debate and discussion. My fellow students were truly engaged with the material, and the professors were passionate about the subjects they taught. We were challenged to think with depth and precision about the meaning of the texts we studied, to construct arguments based on our own understanding of the material, and very often to be critical of literary critics themselves. In a course with David Gessner on environmental writing, the works of Thoreau and Edward Abbey came to life as we all pursued our own individual writing projects, and in discussions with Andrew Scheil we were transported to Elizabethan England. Our professors encouraged us to delve into these subjects and allow ourselves to be changed by the experience. It was a mix of intellectual curiosity and discipline that I had never encountered before. It was transforming.

That same mix of encouraging discipline and intellectual curiosity seemed to be, for me, the bedrock of the Extension School philosophy on education, and it certainly served me well when it came time to write my thesis. As many of my fellow students can no doubt attest, writing the thesis can be a daunting challenge. There were certainly times in the process when it seemed as if it would never be done, but I had faith that eventually it would. Using those same skills I had developed in the classroom, I summoned a level of self-discipline and energy I never knew I had, and by forging ahead I was able to complete my thesis. Of course it also helped to have the advice and support of Dr. Sue Weaver Schopf and my thesis director, Dr. Michael Shinagel, who both seemed to believe in the project even when I was not entirely sure of its future, as well as the support of my family and friends.

I think it will take some time after I have left Cambridge for me to realize all that I have gained here, and how it has influenced my life, but some things seem certain. I know that the Extension School has raised the bar in terms of educational experiences for me. I know that I have come to expect more of myself intellectually and creatively. And I know that someday, when I am standing in front of a classroom full of college students, I will seek to challenge them in the same way that I have been challenged here, and they will be better for it.

What I have described as my transforming Extension School experience is, I am sure, similar in many ways to the experiences of my fellow graduates. We all were challenged by our classes and our theses during our graduate student years at the Extension School. We now can “commence” with a shared sense of accomplishment and pride in our degrees.

Best of luck!

Daniel Levenson graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2001 with a BA in anthropology. He has been writing since the age of 13 and has published numerous poems, short stories, and articles. He is a former reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Patriot Ledger, and has done work for the Associated Press and WBUR radio. While an ALM candidate he served as president of the graduate student community at Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel, and as nonresident tutor in creative writing in Eliot House, Harvard College; he was appointed a Dudley House Literary Fellow.