Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 12 text:

N Howard Swearer is saying good-bye to dear, old Brown, but only temporarily. He is leaving the office that he has held for twelve years as our sixteenth president to become the new director of Brown Univer- sity's Institute for International Studies. In his inaugural speech of 1977, Swearer gave Brown one of its first tastes of the decisive and positive thinking that would bring a troubled university back to the forefront of the academic community. He mentioned priorities that he held for Brown such as fostering its college-university concept, and guarding the University's role as the arena where knowledge and ideas are generated and debated. The most pressing issue beleaguering the Brown Uni- versity of 1977 was financial difficulty. And although many will remember Swearer as the president who saved and rebuilt Brown financially, he has also consistently enunci- ated the goals of community and anticipa- tory thinking. Swearer has always been an advocate of community education and the responsibil- ity that Brown holds to the community around it. And he has emphasized the need for recognizing a sense of community with- in the University walls as well. The estab- lishment and growth of peer counseling with the Curricular Advising Program and the Rose Writing Fellows Program were part of a decisive measure to increase op- portunities for collaborative learning. Brown has been changing continuously by way of pooling its many resources of innovators and risk-takers. Swearer sees this as a major advantage that Brown has over many other schools. We are not smug and self-satisfied, but rather lean, and determined and very competitive. Swearer foresees many changes that will be neces- sary in the future. He cites, for example, the Graduate school as being in need of a re- source expansion 'to encourage reforms. Swearer is also looking towards his per- John Foraste Right: Jan, Nick, and Howard Swearer sit in front of Nick's sculpture of the Brown Bear. Below: Howard Swearer, the Brown Bear, and Jan Swearer at the dedication of the Swearer Walkway. sonal future with Brown. He will take up his new directorship of the Institute of In- ternational Studies in July of 1989. Swearer was chosen for the position at the Institute after a year-long, national search. Accord- ing to IIS committee co-chairperson New- ell Stultz, Howard's credentials were so unusual and so compelling that he was the pre-eminent candidate. Swearer was look- ing for a change and a chance, he says, To focus my attention on an area in which I have a long-standing interest and exper- ience. He is glad to return to fields he started out in and to incorporate both his and Brown's interests. Our research and educational mission is not confined to this corner of America but spans the world and y reaches into outerspace. Brown looks forward to seeing a familiar face in a new place. Swearer embodies the balance between individualism and com- munity for which he has so often praised the Brown community. As we understand and celebrate diversity and pluralism, we also look to the cohesive principles of out society and our lives. The shared exper- ience, the interplay of learning and of car- ing here at Brown, is a good place for us tc begin. 8fHoward Swearer

Page 11 text:

Brown University is a center of diver- sity in which all members of the commu- nity live and learn, together and about each other, in an atmosphere of plurality. It is the people of Brown that give mean- ing to a Brown education. Individuals can retain their autonomy while working together to widen their horizons and to acquire knowledge. And this has brought students of every race, religion, and social background here to Brown. The people of Brown create an image that attracts keen minds and validates itself with a curriculum full of intellectu- Green. ally challenging courses. Brown gradu- ates the Class of 1989 and others leave with a sense of decency and pro- portion, with the ability to crticize and question, but justly, accurately, and with intelligence. Today, the wide spectrum of the peo- ple of Brown represents a tradition of learning over two centuries in the mak- ing a tradition of mental adaptability and independent judgement. Brown's healthy individualism exhibits itself in the vitality of the community and in the concern of its members for one another. Inset: Angelica DeVaris 91 enjoys a Gate meal on Pembroke Green. Above: Students relax on the Bridge Prop by Henry Moore. Above right: Seniors Steve Tannenbaum '89 and Susan Lofgren '89 bide their time on the

Page 13 text:

Howard Swearer9