Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

Dr. Graham Katz (Photo: Roland Dimaya)

What do you regard as your greatest academic success?
I take great pride in the success that students who have worked with me have had, be it in academia or in the “real” world.

What is your idea of happiness?
Happiness is a byproduct of a life well lived.

Who or what was the greatest influence in your life that led to your career?
Before there were PCs, my junior high school (in San Jose, California) had a 4KB computer that I learned to program on. Ever sensitive to my interests, my father gave me Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden, which got me thinking about computers and the mind. That was the start. Some years later I took a job as a programmer and spent the summer trying to program a computer to do the job of a human secretary. I figured out that the hardest part was to teach it to understand language. That directed me to computational linguistics.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Spend less time worrying.

What do you enjoy about teaching?
The opportunity to confront my students with the problems and puzzles that have intrigued thinkers for decades and centuries.

Who are your favorite heroes/heroines in real life (and why)?
I’m amazed by high school teachers.

Who is your favorite musician?
My CD collection tells me that it is Bob Dylan.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
The eradication of monolingualism, perhaps?

If you could change one thing at Georgetown, what would it be?
Besides having more space—for seminars and for offices—it would be nice if there were a Metro station here.

If you could come back to life as a plant/animal/thing, what would it be?
A raven. They live long lives in small family groups and have an insane amount of fun with their aerial acrobatics.

What is your favorite word?
Of English? “Epiphany.” In general? “Feierabendbier”—the German expression that refers to the beer you get to drink when you are done with the day’s work.

What, if any, is your phobia?
I have an irrational fear of getting eaten by a shark when I swim in the ocean.

How do you have fun?
I play Ultimate Frisbee—once competitively, now (sadly) less and less at all.

What is the best piece of advice you could give to your students?
Think hard about the details of your work, but don’t get lost in them.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Never give up.

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