When Psychology Department Chair Susan E. Carey ’64 graduated from Radcliffe College, William James Hall was still under construction.

Forty-seven years later, she works on the 11th floor of that very building.

Carey is a part of a unique group of professors for whom Harvard is not only their employer—it’s their alma mater. With the perspective of a former undergraduate experience, these professors have helped shape the school that sent them on their own career paths.

“Harvard is the only college I applied to,” remembers Carey, who, after a lengthy hiatus as a professor at various other colleges, returned to Harvard in 2001.

Professor John E. Dowling ’57 says he still has his letter of admissions—saved in a scrapbook of Harvard memorabilia—which documents the beginning of his Crimson-infused career.

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Professors as Undergrads: John Dowling and Harry Lewis

A PRETTY LIBERAL PLACE

The undergraduates of a past generation remember a very different Harvard.

“No one in my school had ever heard of Radcliffe—they had heard of Harvard, but they hadn’t heard of Radcliffe,” says Carey, who graduated six years before “The Great Experiment,” when Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates began to share housing.

Dowling recalls an early meeting his proctor held with his entryway.

“They told us that Harvard was a pretty liberal place, that if you had too much to drink, you wouldn’t get into too much trouble. But, there was one thing that if you did, you were gone, you’d be history. And we’re thinking, what heinous crime could this be?” Dowling says. “And he said, having a woman in your room after 8 o’clock at night.”

Carey remembers the Radcliffe perspective of that social scene, which she says was dominated by dating.

“I’ll tell you, I never didn’t have a date,” she says. “It wasn’t based on networks of friends hanging out. There were parties, but you went to parties with a date. It was fun!”

Having graduated from that world, Dowling has turned much of his attention back to student life on campus. Since he joined the faculty in 1961, he has been an active force in the evolution of Harvard undergraduate life over the years. He is the namesake of two separate commissions that evaluated the role of student governance on campus, in 1981 and most recently in 2009.

And even after serving as master of Leverett House for 17 years, Dowling fondly recalls those quirky incidents that only an undergraduate could experience.

“My freshman year, I was in Wigglesworth D-12,” Dowling says. “One day I forgot my key and since my room was on the first floor, I tried to climb through the window. Of course, a HUPD police officer came over right at that moment and questioned me for an hour until I could persuade him that I lived there.”