Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Edward Bruce Bynum with student

UNH degree: Bachelor's, psychology
Currently lives in: Pelham, Mass.

Please share highlights of your career or occupational experiences.
I graduated from UNH and went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Penn State University. Then I did an APA pre-doctoral internship and later a post-doctoral fellowship year at Elcrest Psychiatric Institute, both in Connecticut. After three years there I moved to the University of Massachusetts Health Services in Amherst where I did clinical work for faculty, students, staff and community and also trained psychology and social work interns in psychotherapy, hypnosis and biofeedback.

Overall highlight(s) and/or life achievements since graduating: I got married and have two sons. I have published six books in psychology/psychiatry, most recently Dark Light Consciousness and The African Unsonscious; I won the Abraham Maslow Award from the American Psychological Association; I have written and published three volumes of poetry, one of which, Chronicle of the Pig and Other Delusions, won the national Naomi Long Madgett poetry award; I do and have done a number of radio and television documentaries, and some other stuff from time to time.

How and what were you involved with on campus when you attended UNH?
I was a active member of Katari, The Black Student Union and I was also vice-president of the UNH student government along with Bradford Cook (the UNH student government president) who is now a lawyer in Manchester, N.H.

What were some of your accomplishments as a student here at UNH, and as a pioneering black student at UNH?
First of all, I survived and even thrived at UNH! I became very engaged in political events of the late '60s on campus. I don't know how pioneering that is but I had a really good four years. I knew both students and administrators well and went back and forth between them. Two of my closest friends still in my life are from my first year at UNH! Also I decided to be a writer at UNH.

What is one of your favorite UNH memories?
Walks to the reservoir along the railroad tracks. Are they still there? Writing poetry that I got published in the school magazine; it was a good feeling at the time.

What is one of your very most unique UNH memories or experiences?
A long walk on a sunny warm day with a close friend along an Oyster Bay inlet where a great weeping birch tree swayed out over the water.

Who were your role models and/or mentors while here at UNH, and how did they impact your life?
Professor Duane Whitter in the philosophy department who taught me how to think! His deep-structure teaching is still very much a part of my literary and scientific work.

What advice would you give to current UNH students of color, or any students, based on what you learned while at UNH, and what you've learned from life after college?
Spawn a vision and follow it all the way...