天美传媒

When Mikel Moyer 鈥�19 enrolled at UMass Boston, it had been over 30 years since he last set foot in a classroom.

After earning his doctorate degree in synthetic organic chemistry in 1986, he enjoyed a career in the biopharmaceutical industry, holding leadership positions at some of the most prestigious pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the country.  

When he ultimately retired in 2015, Moyer was left with a hunger for learning that could not be fully satiated by his go-to hobby 鈥� reading. 

鈥淚 read fairly widely for a couple years after I retired,鈥� said Moyer, who preferred non-fiction, gravitating toward history in particular. 鈥淲hat I was finding was that I wasn't really retaining much of what I was reading. It was fairly scattered and not really with much of a systematic element to it.鈥� 

His decision to enroll in UMass Boston came from that desire to expand his knowledge beyond what he felt he could accomplish on his own. Moyer鈥檚 initial plan was to enroll in a few individual classes that piqued his interest. It wasn鈥檛 until he stumbled upon UMass Boston鈥檚 Second Degree Program that he switched gears, overhauling his curriculum to instead pursue a bachelor鈥檚 degree in history. 

In addition to the three history classes he took during his first semester, Moyer also enrolled in a philosophy course taught by Professor Nelson Lande. This class, called Social and Political Thinkers, would ultimately change the trajectory of his path at UMass Boston. 

鈥淔rom that course, I was hooked on philosophy,鈥� said Moyer, who immediately switched his major to philosophy with a minor in history.  

He went on to take four additional classes with Lande, who has been a professor at UMass Boston since 1979. His teachings are primarily focused on logic, metaphysics, medieval philosophy, metalogic, and philosophy of logic. Additionally, Lande was the recipient of both the Chancellor鈥檚 Distinguished Teaching Award and the Philosophy Department鈥檚 Robert Swartz Creative Teaching Award in 2004. 

Moyer said Professor Lande played a fundamental role in his ability to understand the challenging and dense reading that is often associated with philosophy, advising students to not feel discouraged if they don鈥檛 understand the assigned readings the first 鈥� or even second or third 鈥� time around. 

鈥淭hat was hugely important for me because it took multiple times to understand what the text was saying. The writing style can be different than a modern-day style. The terminology is different, and the concepts are hard. But Professor Lande鈥檚 advice told me that I wasn't stupid for not getting it the first time. In that one little discussion, he alleviated a whole realm of anxiety for me,鈥� said Moyer, who ultimately became a tutor for several of Lande鈥檚 classes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just an example of one of Professor Lande鈥檚 strengths: the understanding from the students鈥� standpoint and tailoring his teaching to help us through those difficult points.鈥� 

As a retiree with 天美传媒-aged children, Moyer acknowledged his unique and privileged position of being able to focus on his coursework without external pressures. He said this made a monumental difference in his studies, and he wanted to find a way to alleviate stressors for future students as well. 

So three years after graduating with his bachelor鈥檚 degree in philosophy, Moyer set out to do just that. He established the Dr. Nelson P. Lande Endowed Student Support Fund, which will provide one or more annual awards to a part- or full-time undergraduate student who has outstanding financial need. 

鈥淚 wanted the name to have some bigger meaning. Recognizing Professor Lande and all he's done for all those years and all those students just seemed to be a good way to go about it,鈥� said Moyer about his decision to establish the scholarship in his mentor鈥檚 name. 鈥淚 wanted to name it after Professor Lande because of the huge influence he had on me during my time at UMass Boston.鈥� 

Lande said he felt 鈥渦nimaginably honored鈥� to learn about the scholarship. 

鈥淸Moyer] is just an extraordinarily admirable person in every conceivable respect. The idea that an accomplished older person would want to go back to school and get a new undergraduate degree with no intention of doing anything 鈥� just because he really, really wanted to learn. To me, that's just phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal,鈥� he said. 

And Moyer isn鈥檛 done learning. He鈥檚 currently pursuing his master鈥檚 in philosophy at Tufts University, where he also serves as a teaching assistant. He said this role has made him even more appreciative of his professors. 

"The more you learn, the more you find out you don't know,鈥� said Moyer. 鈥淪o, there's no end goal other than to hopefully keep learning.鈥�