Age is no barrier
At ninety-one years of age La Trobe University graduate Joseph Ciampa is one of the oldest PhD recipients in the world – and far from ‘winding down’ after gaining his doctorate in October, he is already planning to do another masters degree.
When ‘Doctora’ Lilit Thwaites, the title by which he always addressed her, agreed to supervise the Spanish literature student, neither knew how remarkable Mr Ciampa’s eight year journey to obtaining his PhD would become.
Dr Ciampa received his degree testamur from Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor David De Vaus during a special back-yard ceremony in October at his home, surrounded by family and media.
Dr Thwaites says that finding ways to accommodate Mr Ciampa’s unusual circumstances was at times problematic. ‘He didn’t have the usual computer skills, for example, and getting to university via public transport eventually became difficult for him.’
Dr Ciampa’s meticulous drafts and notes had to be typed, and so Dr Thwaites had to find typists who were prepared to work with a manuscript handwritten in Spanish. ‘We were fortunate that we were able to take advantage of the expertise, and willingness of former students and departmental administrators to turn his draft version of the entire thesis into a series of Word documents’, she says.
Despite the challenges, Dr Thwaites recalls many stimulating supervisory sessions with Dr Ciampa, as he shared his ideas on Spanish author Carmen Martín Gaite, who is to Spain what Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir are to the English and Frenchspeaking worlds.
‘Our conversations were never a one-way street. They enabled me to rediscover Carmen Martín Gaite through his eyes, his ideas and the interconnections he made between her and other writers and ideas, while offering him my thoughts and suggestions on the author and her era.’
Dr Thwaites – who describes Dr Ciampa as ‘a perfect example of life-long learning’ – concurs with the examiners’ assessment of his work as a significant and original contribution to the study of Spanish literature.
She will miss his handwritten letters which always started with ‘Gentilísima Dra Thwaites’. ‘They were always handwritten in a lovely, old-fashioned “proper” style in Spanish,’ Dr Thwaites says. ‘Not exactly the style of communication we usually receive from our students nowadays!’