Boston College - Sub Turri Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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To put it briefly, the Humanities Series exists to give the students of Boston College happy memories. Now in its twenty-fifth year, the Series has brought more than 350 speakers to the campus. Each of the thousands of students, faculty members, members of other universities who have gathered to hear them has his own recollections: “Robert Frost was surprised that 1 was earning my degree at Boston College without taking Greek.” “1 understood the staccato form of e.e. cummings’s poems when I heard him read them.” “When 1 met him, Robert Lowell was certain 1 was an Eskimo. I’m Chinese.” “At her lecture on ‘World Hunger,’ when I suggested to Margaret Mead that the Church should sell the wealth of the Vatican for the poor, she replied that it wouldn’t help much to sell the vestments and paintings. What would help would be to have everyone abstain from meat for a day every week.” “ ‘No, I’m not James F. Murphy,’ T.S. Eliot said. He was looking around for his books, and someone had mistakenly handed him mine.” Where did they all come from?’ Seamus Heaney wondered when he saw Humanities Series: The Sciences are man ' s possession; the Humanities are man himself . — Robert Frost 1100 of us jammed into St. Ignatius Church to hea r him.” And more importantly, the audiences that gathered about the poets, novelists, actors, critics, classical scholars, historians, theologians, journalists, playwrights, heard the great texts they had analyzed in class come alive in the voices of their writers. That is why thirty school buses were parked around Roberts Center the last time Robert Frost came to read. Why the great crowd rose, stood in silence while the old poet walked down the aisle; then greeted him with a storm of applause as he reached the platform. They came from all over New England to hear Katherine Anne Porter, Mary Lavin, Elizabeth Bishop, Sir Alec Guinness, Dame Helen Gardiner, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., James Reston, Richard Ellman, Ralph Ellison, W.H. Auden, C. Day Lewis, Anne Sexton, James Dickey, Andre Maurois, Lillian Heilman, Samuel Eliot Morison. It must have been fun for the speakers, too. Elizabeth Janeway lectured six times, as did Stephen Spender. Adrienne Rich made three appearances. Sean O’Faolain lectured twice, and returned to teach a sequence in the short story. Allison Macomber twice demonstrated the technique of sculpture, and then stayed on to found the Studio Art division. Susan Sonntag has lectured seven times. Peter Amott’s astonishing marionettes, performing one of the Greek tragedies, have become an annual fixture. It began in the fall of 1956 with the gift of David Barnard Steinman, a bridge builder and poet. Alumni and friends of the University saw the Series through the next two years. Then it was adopted as a permanent activity, and a community service to the public. In the 1981-1982 year we have welcomed the poets Gwendolyn Brooks, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, Richard Murphy, Lucille Clifton; the novelist Francine du Plessix Gray,; the Yale Russian Chorus; John L. Mahoney of our own English Department; Roger Angell, New Yorker editor; Giles Constable, medievalist, giving the traditional Candlemas Lecture; Edwin R. Bayley, journalism dean; Peter Amott presenting Antigone; Czeslaw Milosz, poet and novelist, polish Nobel Prize laureate. Many of these events were suggested by students or professors. Some were presented with the co-sponsorship of the intercultural Awareness Forum, the Undergraduate Government Cultural Committee, or the Harry Levine Lectureship in Irish Studies. All were made possible by the generous service of the Gold Key, themselves specialists in happy memories. Irish Consul Gerard Woods and Edward Thomas, ’57 greet Robert Frost on a visit to Boston College in 1957. 28

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Panuska leaves for Scranton Holding what President Monan once called “the most important management role in furthering the central mission of the University,” was Joseph A. Panuska, S.J., the Academic Vice-President and Dean of Faculties. Coming to Boston College in 1979 from the biology department of Georgetown University, Panuska spent his three years here devoted to improving the quality of education and now leaves to tackle a new mission as the president of the University of Scranton. With a list of board appointments, honors and prestigious memberships which runs on for pages, Panuska is clearly a sought after individual qualified in numerous fields. As one-time Provincial of the seven-state Maryland province of the Society of Jesus, Father Panuska is very familiar with the Scranton area and is looking forward to taking on the challenging position with enthusiasm. As Academic Vice-President, Panuska was the liason between many different groups: between faculty and deans, faculty and faculty, deans and deans, administration and faculty, faculty and students, and students and administration. In his spare time Panuska made revisions in the course offerings, core curriculum, academic advisement and many other areas. His main goal was to improve communications between the various sectors of the campus populus and, as he stated in his introductory speech to the faculty in September of 1979, “concentrate on excellence, not survival.” Having completely revamped the archaic and frustrating registration system through computerization, Panuska will be remembered as the Patron Saint of the Registrar. Panuska has also created the University Academic Council in order to increase his exposure to views and ideas from all of the different university groups. The presence of two students on this council demonstrates Panuska’s feeling about student input. Panuska is also responsible for the institution of a new course evaluation form based on the recommendations made by Jason Millman of Cornell University. Millman came to campus last year to gather information on the current evaluation process and submitted an in- depth report to the University Academic Council last spring. In November, Panuska received the recommendations of the council and a new form was agreed upon. Set to one side of the campus on College Road, Panuska has spent his years in Bourneuf House, a beautiful, old, stone Normandy, which houses the Academic Vice-President’s office. From this point a new perspective of campus was gained. From his own unique angle, Panuska has looked out over the University and its greatest resources, its administration, faculty and students, and attempted to make any improvements he could. The University has profited greatly from his presence here and will remember him through his achievements. Rev. Joseph A. Panuska, S.J. 27

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the great texts alive Elizabeth Janeway Czeslaw Milosz Seamus Heaney Sean O’Faolain