Tufts University - Jumbo Yearbook (Medford, MA)

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George B. Burch The Tufts Philosophy Club has described Professor of Philosophy George Burch in the following manner: “The personality and knowledge of Dr. Burch has long made the Philosophy Department at Tufts unique. With the un¬ fortunate tendency of modern philosophy to be dominated by logical positivism and linguistic analysis, Dr. Burch’s interests are truly refreshing. He combines a wide knowledge of the cultures of the world with a great inter est in philosophy as a whole.” This statement is typical of many made by Tufts students who have been inspired by Professor Burch’s challenging and exciting approach to his subject matter, an approach which has led to the great popularity of his surveys of Western, Far Eastern, and Near Eastern Thought. A graduate of Harvard University, Professor Burch taught at the College of Idaho before coming to Tufts in 1946. He was chairman of the Philosophy Department for several years before stepping down this year. Dr. Burch plans to make this his last year of teaching, and in com¬ menting on his years at Tufts he said, “I found the character and competence of my colleagues in the faculty and char¬ acter and competence of my students both very gratifying. In general my students have been excellent and some have been outstanding so that teaching here has been a very rewarding experience for me.” In speaking about the quality of Tufts students over the years, he noted, “I have had out¬ standing students recently, and some shortly after I came here,” so that while the face of the university has changed a great deal in the past twenty years, he sees no really signifi¬ cant change in the quality of the student body during this period. Dr. Burch points out that he views the relationship of the teacher to the student to be “something analogous to a paternal relationship. As the parent hands on life to his children, so the teacher hands on a cultural tradition to his students.” Professor Burch also sees unique problems in the teaching of philosophy because “it is not just the teaching of subject matter as in other fields, but the teaching of values which have to be appreciated.” For this reason, he always tries to elicit vigorous student discussion of course material, and emphasizes the importance of close student-teacher con¬ tacts outside of the classroom situation. Dr. Burch is also aware of the possibility of the mature philosophic mind imposing its credos upon the relatively untutored mind of the student. Nevertheless, he sees no way of avoiding “teaching what I believe, even in history of philosophy courses where I only teach those philosophers whom I think are important.” When asked about the role of the philosopher in influencing the direction of contemporary society, Professor Bruch re¬ plied that he saw little hope of any philosopher causing any meaningful change in the values of his own society. “In past times philosophers have had very little influence on their contemporaries, but have had overwhelming influence on the thought and values of future times.” However, he refused to speculate on the future influence of any twentieth century philosopher. “In speculating about what we don’t know, we can only go by analogy with what we do know, but that doesn’t mean the analogy will necessarily be carried out. Therefore, one cannot calculate which of our modern philoso¬ phers will have the greatest future influence.” Professor Burch’s main fields of interest are pre-Socratic and early Medieval philosophy, but he has lately turned to the study of the Indian philosophy of Vedanta. After leaving Tufts, he plans to devote much of his time to the completion of a book entitled The Search for the Absolute Contemporary Vedanta. The entire Tufts community will miss Professor Burch. We shall remember him for the wisdom of his words such as these about the role of the university: “Extending the horizon of thought is the university’s most significant con¬ tribution to the student’s education. It cannot teach him how to think — he must bring that with him; but it can give him things to think about.” We thank Professor Burch for giving so many of us so much to think about. 24

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Dawson G. Fulton Dr. Dawson G. Fulton is presently in his twenty-second year as a member of the Tufts Department of Mathematics. However, the path he followed in coming to Tufts was not a direct one. After studying for his Bachelor’s Degree at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and his Masters at the University of Michigan, Dr. Fulton received his Ph.D. from Michigan in 1932. Always partial to a career in teaching, he found what he could among the scarce positions available during the Depression years, and taught high school in Nova Scotia for four years. Despite his degree in mathematics, he was required to teach every subject including Latin and Social Studies. Somewhat disappointed with this arrange¬ ment, he now says “That should have settled me for teaching.” On New Year’s Day of 1937, however, he began a teaching fellow¬ ship at the LIniversity of Michigan which brought him back to the college level, and to teaching mathematics exclusively. After two years at Armour Institute in Chicago and four years at Ohio Northern University, Dr. Fulton went to the Uni¬ versity of New Hampshire in 1943 for an unexpectedly short stay. In the heat of the war years, large numbers of the New Hampshire students were taken by the draft, leaving U.N.H. with a surplus of faculty. However, at the same time at Tufts College, the opposite problem existed—a large num¬ ber of Navy personnel were being trained through the College, and there was a need for additions to its faculty. As Dr. Fulton expresses it, “I was loaned by the University of New Hampshire to Tufts in 1944,” but somehow he never made it back. He then became an associate professor at Tufts in 1946 and achieved his full professorship in 1950. Those who have taken his courses have all recognized his unusually strong desire to encourage students to learn. He is patient with his students, for as he points out, “It takes a little living with a limit to get a notion of what it is.” His desire is evident in every class he teaches, in his obvious pleasure when a student has understood a new idea and in the pain he seems to feel when he is disappointed by the class. Both these feelings derive from his “thrill of learning and know¬ ing,” an experience which he is constantly trying to communicate to his students. Dr. h ulton is sensitive to that which is beautiful in mathematics. He sees it as both art and science. “It’s beauty lies in its logical structure,” he says, “One thing follows from the next and every new notion is first backed up by an old one well-known.” I hus included in his feeling that logical sequence is a profit to everyone who takes mathematics is his feeling for the aesthetic value of mathematical logic. Dr. Fulton’s sensitivity and his love of teaching both extend beyond the classroom. He is keenly aware of natural beauty. In his walk to Bromfield-Pearson every morning from his home on Professors Row, he has noticed that “every season of the year is different and pretty.” Of the Tufts campus, he says, “There is so much beauty. It is a privilege to live and work in the midst of it.” Another privilege he has had for the past twenty years has been that of leading the Cub Scout group at his church. Only this past fall, many years after his own son had graduated from this group, did he relinquish this opportunity to guide and teach. Dr. Fulton has said that he “couldn’t want for a better place to teach,” and that he will “come up to the time of retirement with a great many regrets in leaving Tufts.” Perhaps those who will most regret his departure are those students who first en¬ countered mathematics at Tufts in the person of Dr. h ulton, a teacher who tries especially hard to instill in the beginning college student, his own love for mathe¬ matics. 26