“Then Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” – Acts 10:34-35
As I pursue my memoir writing, I find frequent moments for introspection. One such memory takes me back to the late 1960s, when I was a graduate student at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, working toward a Ph.D. in Statistics and Operations Research. During that period, fate introduced me to Professor Oscar Kempthorne, Chairman of the Statistical Laboratory at Iowa State University, who was visiting my supervisor, Professor Sir David Cox.
Professor Kempthorne, a Caucasian, appeared intrigued — perhaps surprised — that someone like me, a person of color, was pursuing such a demanding doctoral program at Imperial. That curiosity soon became an opportunity. In 1971, he invited me to spend the summer as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iowa. I accepted. My wife, Kean, joined me briefly, relieved to take a break from caring for our two young children, Karen and Kevin, who remained in Barbados with family. We were living in Trinidad at the time.
The university housed us in a long, narrow caravan, fully furnished and entirely unfamiliar to us as Caribbean people. After a few weeks, Kean returned home — though not before our third child, Bevan, was conceived.
I moved into a tiny bedsitter where the bed folded into the wall and rented a small refrigerator, permanently stocked with vanilla and chocolate ice cream. By summer’s end, the indulgence showed: my family walked past me at the airport, failing to recognize my newly rounded face.
Academically and socially, Iowa was rewarding. I attended seminars, made friends and witnessed Oscar’s quiet conviction that scholarly merit should never be overshadowed by race. I bought a 1962 Pontiac Catalina for $100 which was my local transporter and sold it for the same price when I left. A departmental colleague, an amateur pilot, extended the hospitality of a flight over Iowa to Des Moines and back — an unforgettable experience.
Yet Iowa could feel isolating. To escape the long weekends, I took overnight Greyhound bus trips — 21 hours each way — to New York or Washington, D.C., nearly every weekend. I divided the journey into reading, sleeping and conversations with strangers. Those hours brought reflection, connection and perspective. It was another step along a lifelong journey of education — one that continues to inform how I learn, teach and engage with the world.
Season’s greetings to you all!
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a corporate governance adviser. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found at https://www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.)