Student to receive 3rd bachelor's, begin 4th

By Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

James Conway (Stan Sherer photo)

ore than half a century ago, James Conway dropped out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., but these days, nothing can keep him out of the classroom - certainly not graduation. At 82, he'll receive his third undergraduate degree May 25 when the University will confer on him a bachelor of arts in History. Come fall, though, he hopes to be back in class, this time studying civil engineering.
He already has a civil engineering degree, from RPI, where he returned to the course of study he had abandoned nearly 40 years earlier.

     After graduating from Cathedral High School in Springfield in 1939, he had studied at Bay Path Institute and Northeastern University's campus in Springfield before serving as a first lieutenant for three years in the U.S. Army Air Corps, one of them as a prisoner of war in Germany.

      After finishing his RPI degree in 1997, he worked his way through a bachelor of arts in liberal studies at Westfield State College, where he took classes between 1995 and 1998, before taking on History at the University.

      "I took courses in modern history, and by that I mean from the French Revolution forward," he said of his University studies. "I took about two courses a semester: black history, Irish history, Jewish history.

      "I got a B average. I don't want to be a grind and try for all A's, but I don't want to look stupid, either."

      With three undergraduate degrees under his belt, he is, at last, considering graduate work, he said.

      "I put in an application for Civil Engineering for the fall with a potential to switch to a master's," he said. "If I get it, fine. If not, I'll try something else."

      Conway is no stranger to the subject nor was he to the campus when he began taking classes in 1998. In addition to his degree from RPI, he has nearly 40 years experience as a civil engineer with Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc. of Holyoke, the company that built a number of campus landmarks. Over the years, Conway worked on the construction of the Du Bois Library, the Lincoln Campus Center and the Southwest towers.

      He also taught civil engineering at Lowell Tech in Springfield for five years.

      In addition to his life as a scholar, Conway is a busy family man. With his wife of 52 years, he has 13 children, 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

      He and his family will not be attending commencement, he said. The Phi Kappa Phi honor society member said it is too much trouble.

      "I think I'll have them mail me a diploma," he said.