In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, sat down, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I explained that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a job with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq approached me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or nerve to reach out at an elite institution and seek a position. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a role in Europe where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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