Validation

About a month ago, I found out that one of my professors from grad school, Dr. Thomas Keenan, passed away on the 1st of January this year. He had been battling cancer, and although his health had been declining over the past year, he had continued to share updates on Facebook. When those updates stopped, I searched for news and discovered he was no more.

During the COVID pandemic, I spent a lot of time reconnecting with people from my past, and Tom was one of those who responded from my NZ days. I remember feeling delighted that he remembered me. Over the last five years, we stayed in touch on and off through Facebook Messenger, and I feel grateful for that. Back when I was a student, he was easily one of the most popular professors on campus, and his classes were ones I always looked forward to. 

What I remember most about Tom’s classes was the validation he gave each of us when we contributed or produced good work. In my first year of the MA in Psychology program, we were each assigned a topic to present in class. I was so nervous that my hands shook as I placed my acetate slides on the overhead projector. When I finally got through it and said, “Thank you,” Tom, and then the entire class, began clapping—before I knew it, I had received a standing ovation. I had never experienced anything like that in all my academic life. From that moment on, a series of straight A’s followed.

Having grown up in an education system that rewarded regurgitation over analytical thinking, I had never fully understood my own academic strengths. Tom’s class changed that.

Later, I worked as a Research Assistant for Tom and another professor, and once again, he was nothing but encouraging and appreciative of my efforts. When it came time to write my thesis, I was inspired by his classes in Developmental Psychology, which, combined with my supervisor’s expertise in Stigma, led me to conduct research with an intellectually disabled Indian population at a school back home. I received an A for that work, and I think it was even published somewhere. Because of Tom, I had the confidence to apply for a research grant—which I got—and that grant funded my thesis.

I have so much to be grateful for.

Dr. Thomas Keenan—though to all of us, simply Tom—was one of the kindest and most supportive members of the teaching faculty at the Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury. I owe him more than I can put into words.

Bless you wherever you are, Tom. May your soul rest in peace.