“Despite my 60 plus years and graying hair, I never felt out of place. The students didn’t treat me differently. That’s part of the Sarah Lawrence culture, which is very, very accepting.”

When corporate executive Lorette Cameron retired after 41 years, she was determined to study for the undergraduate degree she had never earned. This June, the Pelham resident walked to the podium at Sarah Lawrence College to receive her bachelor’s degree. It came 22 years after she earned her MBA at the University of Chicago.

“Education enriches your life and makes you more conscious of the world around you,” says Cameron, 64. “From an external perspective, my life hasn’t changed dramatically. But my life has changed pervasively because as you learn more, you see things in the world that you haven’t seen before.”

Cameron, who dropped out of high school in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, entered the workforce in the early days of computers. She learned programming, and worked her way up in the industry at a time when few colleges had courses in computer science. By the time she was in a management position for a major corporation in the early 1980s, she had passed college equivalency exams and was accepted at the University of Chicago’s MBA program.

That served her well, as she worked in high-level posts at Atlantic Richfield, Morgan Stanley and IBM. But she still yearned for that liberal arts education she couldn’t afford back in the early 1960s

“I always figured a business degree was like going to trade school,” she says. “I wanted an education, but it wasn’t possible when I was working because I traveled so much.”

At Sarah Lawrence’s Center for Continuing Education, she found her niche. The program is designed for adult learners seeking that elusive undergraduate diploma. They begin the program taking four courses at the center, in small adults-only seminar classes with no more than 12 students. Like other Sarah Lawrence students, Cameron met regularly with her teachers and her faculty advisor, who encouraged her on her academic journey.

Among those supporters was professor Lyde Cullen Sizer, who teaches U.S. cultural and intellectual history.

“Lorette is an excellent reader as well as writer, so she brought precision and rigor to the table with her, always,” says Sizer. “I could rely on her in class, to not only have done the work required, but to have done it with aplomb, and early, to be able to discuss it.”

After completing the CCE courses, Cameron joined the regular Sarah Lawrence students in their classes, where she says she was accepted.

“Despite my 60 plus years and graying hair, I never felt out of place,” says Cameron. “The students didn’t treat me differently. That’s part of the Sarah Lawrence culture, which is very, very accepting.”

Cameron began taking courses in 2002, and for the next five years, took two courses a semester—one fewer than regular students—as she explored the liberal arts. She took courses in French, 19^th century literature and Chinese history. She studied philosophy, genetics and society, and learned how to make prints in art class.

“I was interested in getting as broad an education as possible,” says Cameron.

In her class on Victorian literature, the students read novels by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Twain, Stendahl, and Austen. Cameron also wrote a chapter for a novel, set in modern times, in the style of those Victorian authors.

“It had a strong narrative voice, and was concerned with social class, money, and family relationships,” she says.

Cameron discovered Sarah Lawrence in the late 1990s when a friend’s daughter was interested in coming to the college. So Cameron and her husband accompanied the girl to an hour-long seminar modeled on a regular college class. Both the girl and the Camerons liked the experience.

“I wasn’t retired yet, but my husband took a couple of classes,” says Cameron. “We were very impressed.”

What drew Cameron to Sarah Lawrence was its small classes and personal attention. Most Sarah Lawrence classes are taught within the College’s seminar and conference system, with no more than 15 students per class.

Students meet every other week for a half hour to an hour with the teacher in what’s called a conference to discuss the class work and the student’s personal interest in the subject matter. Together, student and faculty member draw up an independent study plan that parallels the class work.

In faculty member Ilja Wach’s class on 19^th century literature, Cameron delved deeply into Flaubert’s classic, Madame Bovary.

“The relationship you have with the professors is much more personal than in a typical classroom setting, where the teacher is the dispenser of information and you, the student, are the recipient,” says Cameron. “In the seminar system, you are participating in the learning process.”

Students also meet often with their faculty advisor or don. After taking a history class with Lyde Sizer during her first year at the Center for Continuing Education, Cameron asked the history professor to serve that role. Sizer accepted.

“I’d taken a class with her, and she was very demanding and made you do your best,” says Cameron. “She was a wonderful teacher, and was very honest with me about what classes I should or shouldn’t take. She helped me assess the course content and the professors.”

Earning her undergraduate diploma was not a life-changing event for Cameron, who intends to continue living an intellectually stimulating retirement. In fact, she’s planning on coming back to Sarah Lawrence this fall to take more courses. She has yet to choose among the 20 courses she highlighted in the fall course catalogue.

It’s all part of Cameron’s dedication to learning, just for its own sake.

“When I first went to class, I remember sitting in the pub, reading a book,” she says. “I looked around and saw all these kids reading books, and suddenly I felt so lucky. I was there reading literature for pleasure, without guilt, like it was something I was expected to do and so was everyone else.”