Not many of us can say we attended college twice, the second time on a whim to learn a foreign language. Dale Cannon, on the other hand, is one of the few who can. After meeting him in a Spanish class last year, I quickly discovered Dale to be one of the funniest, most sarcastic people I’ve yet to meet. He may be 70 years old, but he’s definitely young at heart.
Name: Dale Cannon
Age: 70
Major: I received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the U in 1970
Relationship status: Becky and I will have been married for 50 years this June. We have 2 sons and 3 grandsons.
Favorite thing about the U:
I work with great colleagues.
Why did you choose the U?
I came to the U in 1966 because it had a strong Psychology doctoral program and it was next to the mountains. Finding both in one place made the choice easy.
Why did you decide to go back to school? Why did you choose to study Spanish?
I attend a bilingual (English/Spanish) church, and I wanted to be able to speak with my Hispanic friends and participate in Spanish-language activities. I’m far from fluent, but my friends are patient with me and I get by. When I don’t understand something, I use a “dicho” they have taught me, “No entiendo ni papas” (“I don’t even understand potatoes”). They laugh and explain what they were saying.
Occupation? How has your education at the U affected your job?
I have been a psychologist for 43 years (35 with the VA and 8 with the Dept. of Psychiatry here at the U). Although I’ve had only 2 employers, I’ve had lot of different kinds of jobs. I think my graduate training at the U prepared me well for a wide variety of responsibilities and opportunities.
Favorite pastimes:
Hiking, and playing with my grandsons.
Favorite book, movie:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (both the books and the movies)
Do you have any regrets in life?
If I had it all to do over again, I probably would make the same mistakes I made the first time because I wouldn’t know any better. My biggest surprise is that 70 years went by so fast.
If you could live in any time period, which would you choose?
I like to imagine being a 19th century mountain man, but I know I’m not tough enough. Besides, I would have missed all the exciting scientific advances of the 20th and 21st centuries. So, I would choose to stay in this period.