"I somehow drifted into professional theater...I didn't know what I wanted to do," he says.

Having a primary talent and interest in ginging, he ended up playing the role of the Prince of Burma in "The King and I," as well as "Oh What a Lovely War" and "Half a Sixpence."

Wanting to pursue his other academic interest in history, he began "living a double life" and earned both his master's and Ph.D., then received tenure.

Teaching at the University proved too time consuming to keep up with singing, but he is still very involved in theater.

Campus producers and actors may be interested in meeting Rickard, since he is still associated with a theater program in Australia that he describes as "sort of an awards system...sort of a small version of the Tonies."

Through this year-long experience of teaching, living and researching at Harvard, he says he expects to learn a considerable amount himself.

"There's almost a need to translate things to explain," he says, because of the cultural difference and reduced level of familiarity.

But Rickard doesn't find this a burden-in fact, it's exactly what he came here for: a chance to "see Australia through an American's eyes."