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Publications

Nontraditional Student
(how ham radio sent me back to graduate school)
Copyright © 2013 by Dr. H. Paul Shuch

At their convention banquet, I discover soon that I've
Been seated next to Campbell, Katz, and Clark, and all our wives.
The dinner table conversation very quickly turned
To grad school reminiscence - where we'd gone, and what we'd learned.
And there was I, the only member of that august crowd
Without a Ph.D., and I informed them so, out loud.

A message was conveyed by gazes penetrating, steely,
For everybody stared directly at me, thinking, "Really?"
But, where I taught, a graduate degree was not required,
Although it had been something that I very much desired.
I broke the awkward silence when I finally dared to say
"Although I plan on going back to graduate school some day."

Returning home from Central States, a thought stuck in my craw.
I mused about that dinner. It began to really gnaw.
"Since I am equal to them all, intellectually.
Just why am I the only one without a Ph.D.?
I wish that 'some day' would arrive." And so it was to be
Amazing opportunities would soon appear for me.

My friend Tom Leonard was the Aerospace Department chair
At the local university. He rang me up from there,
A week before the academic term was due to start,
In need of a professor. Would I come and do my part?
He offered me a job, and I accepted on the spot,
With no idea this would lead to trouble. Quite a lot.

A week into the term, I had to go to Personnel
To fill out lots of papers. They were worried, I could tell,
When asking, "Just where was it that you got your Ph.D.?"
"I do not have one," I replied. "You'll very clearly see
From my CV, that I am just a Bachelor Engineer."
"We have a problem," Houston said. And I replied, "Oh, dear."

For they'd already hired me! And I had begun to teach.
A doctorate, although required, was not within my reach,
And still they had to pay me, though I was not qualified.
I hadn't claimed credentials, and I surely never lied.
The compromise that Tom suggested sounded rather cool --
They'd keep me on the payroll, if I just went back to school.

So: teaching, research, coursework meant my time was running short,
Though fortunately I secured additional support.
At first, a Goddard Scholarship fulfilled a fiscal need.
The Hertz Foundation fellowship ensured I would succeed.
And that's how a ham radio convention set the stage
For me to earn a Doctorate, past forty years of age.

Read more History in Verse

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