Dominican-American Profiles in Excellence : Dr. Rafael Art Javier, Ph.D.

I recently had the distinct pleasure of spending the good part of a beautiful early Spring afternoon at the home of Dr. Rafael Art Javier in New York's most flowered Borough of Queens. Highly regarded in academic circles, Dr. Javier is a widely published professor holding faculty teaching positions at two venerable New York Universities, New York University and St. John's University.

I had previously read his curriculum; well over 60 publications and post-graduate texts, on the editorial boards of Psycholinguistic Research, the Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless. He is a diplomate in psychoanalysis by the American Board of Professional Psychologists, and he holds a Forensic Specialty in Psychologic Assessment; quite a mouth-full.

Most disarming to me upon our meeting was his pleasant self-effacing, polite and gracious manner. He was not like your typically self-consuming ivory tower New York professors who are all too commonplace - Dominicans included. Since I write for young minds as my principal audience, I was still reacting and reeling from a nationally circulated article on major league baseball and its connection with deception on faking ages and so forth.

The Article appeared as a special report cover story in "USA Today" the large American newspaper. Concerned about this negative impact, meeting and writing about Dr. Javier came at the right time. Born in Santo Domingo as one of 8 children, Dr. Javier studied at San Juan Bosco developing an early dedication and passion for servicing others. I also found him to be a very good listener - all ideal qualities serving him well in his practice of clinical psychology - defined as helping patients solve life issues by non-pharmacological means.

Since the pursuit of any doctorate degree in the United States can be very long, costly and difficult, I asked him what suggestions he had for future doctoral candidates of any academic discipline. His response was to focus on achieving the "Goal" itself and not think of the "how long" factor. Also, creating the habit and falling in love with reading at an early age. In closing this story, it is hoped that we may have seized the interest and imagination of young minds to excel in their chosen field. There is more to celebrate in the Dominican Republic than baseball lots with broken dreams. De José del C. Paulino