During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Since my travel mate was interested in pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a large ten-floor structure on the UWS called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I my profession was, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that night. The Iraqi student approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a city where anything feels possible – she declared: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for three years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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