85-year-old woman now has five university degrees, and she's still going

Ann Laubstein received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Mental Health degree from Carleton University on June 11.  Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Ann Laubstein had skipped four of her own graduation ceremonies, including one for her PhD.

Article content

“I just wasn’t interested,” she explained, adding she always thought she’d be bored with sitting in rows while waiting to be called on stage and handed a piece of paper.

Article content

Article content

But the 85-year-old retired Carleton University linguistics professor couldn’t bear to miss her fifth graduation ceremony. 

Article content

Article content

Laubstein, who crossed the stage to receive her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Mental Health degree from Carleton on June 11, said she had worked too hard to skip this one. 

Article content

Article content

“Writing my thesis for my (linguistics) PhD was not as hard as passing a physics course,” she quipped, adding it was the last course she had to take to complete the requirements for her latest degree.

Article content

When her name was called, the crowd’s collective roar was so loud that it muffled the part of the announcement that she had graduated with High Distinction, Laubstein said.

Article content

“It was amazing,” she recalled.

Article content

Ann Laubstein strides onto the stage to receive her Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and Mental Health at a Carleton University convocation ceremony on June 11. Photo by Carleton University /HANDOUT

Article content

Laubstein’s son, Stuart, said everyone was cheering for his mom, including professors. “It was funny because, afterwards, a whole bunch of grandmothers and grandmothers were coming up to talk to her and saying they were amazed.”

Article content

Her hard work in completing a degree in her golden years had been noticed within the Carleton community, and the standing ovation Laubstein received at convocation provided only a glimpse of that, according to Kim Hellemans, a Carleton neuroscience professor.

Article content

Hellemans first taught Laubstein over a decade ago, when Laubstein was just starting her BSc in neuroscience, and was among the crowd at her graduation.

Article content

Article content

Being registered as a special student, Laubstein was able to take one course per semester and to continue enjoying life, which has included kayaking, tennis and skiing.

Article content

Article content

Hellemans described Laubstein as someone with a “joie de vivre.”

Article content

Not much could get in the way of her ability to “live life out loud” — except for physics.

Article content

“I told friends of mine: ‘I can’t see you, I can’t go out, I can’t go to this place with you because I’m too busy,” Laubstein said, adding that going to the graduation ceremony and later celebrating at home was her way of making it up to them.

Article content

Laubstein said she didn’t do a neuroscience degree to “challenge” herself after a life-long career in linguistics. Rather, she was curious about the brain and the phonological structures involved in speech production.

Article content

Her plan after being “forced” to retire in 2006 from her Carleton linguistics teaching job was to travel and to become fluent in every language she had learned.

Article content

Russian. Spanish. Greek. German. 

Article content

“That’s what I thought I’d do when I retired,” she said.

Article content

But, when she got to Argentina to learn Spanish, Laubstein said her hearing had deteriorated and she had trouble hearing high-frequency sounds like “S” and “F.”