Bucknell University - L Agenda Yearbook (Lewisburg, PA)

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Dr. C. Willard Smith ♦ • « • ••♦

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3aaEiJJ;i:™; Ji iiZUlii u y ,[y.,yii£- ;ii i.r. m r aiiPi ' .MaiA ' .mrit Krr , DEDICATION There is no member of the Bucknell family who does not know and enjoy knowing Dr. C. Willard Smith. As chairman of the Department of English, he is, in a very real sense, a director of every stu- dent ' s education. However, his guidance is not of merely the administrative variety; no teacher ' s calendar is more crowded with personal conferences. Freshmen and sophomores in his classes learn quick- ly that the wide interests, the perceptive understand- ing, the subtle guidance and the sober humor which delight them in the classroom are carried into all of his relationships by Dr. Smith. These qualities enable him to transmit to the English majors his wonder at the wealth in his favorite author, Shakes- peare, and his delight in exploring the History of the Language. As secretary of the faculty, Dr. Smith is highly respected by his colleagues, who have repeatedly elected him to that honored position. His never- failing enthusiasm for people ' s ideas have led him to help many embryo movements at Bucknell be- come traditions of which the University is proud. Coming to Bucknell in 1925 after graduating from Princeton, from which he holds all three of his degrees, and teaching at the Pingry School for boys, Dr. Smith became chairman of the University ' s largest department in 1954. In his thirty-four years here he has helped to develop the World Litera- ture course, which was one of the first of its kind. In 1944 he founded the Bucknell Institute for For- eign Students, and he was for twelve years director of that summer orientation program for overseas students which has grown to such heights this year. He was, for a time, associate editor of the Bucknell Studies, the scholarly publication now known as the Bucknell Review. In the past two years he has encouraged and helped to develop the Robbins Lec- ture Series in world literature. His students who share with him a classroom overlooking the new academic quadrangle report that Dr. Smith, with his usual vivid imagination and dry wit, has sug- gested a new movement. He has volunteered for the chairmanship of a Committee for the Advance- ment of an Eighteenth-Century Sunken Garden Out- side Coleman Hall. Dr. Smith is known not only to Bucknellians, but to the whole Lewisburg vicinity for his captivating poetry readings. They are a part of his love of dramatization. The theatre has always been very much a part of his life, and in his willingness to share his interests, knowledge, and experiences, he has, to a large extent, created theatre at Bucknell. He has worked consistently with Cap and Dagger as advisor, director, designer, and actor, and he helped to found the University Players. He serves now as adviser to those two groups of thespians, to whom he is known affectionately as Willard, and to Theta Alpha Phi. It is especially fitting that Dr. Smith be chosen recipient of this honor this year. In 1959 Buck- nellians produced, for the first time, a play in their own University Theatre. Dr. Smith has for years been imagining, encouraging, and helping to design such a theatre. In giving Bucknell a theatre to fit her specifications the Olin Foundation has made his dream come true. It is with both humility and pride that the class of 1959 thanks Dr. C. Willard Smith for his contributions to Bucknell and dedi- cates to him this 1959 L ' Agenda.

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i p ' ' if W hr f 11? U: ' ' ,lff5 ' ■«■..„ ' a » mi . I We present to you the agenda, the things done at Bucknell in 1959 as our paths . . .