Faculty Authors Honored at Annual Reception

Author: Kate Prouty

Unable to find a literary quotation more appropriate for the occasion, Dean of the Faculty Robert Schine wittily welcomed those in attendance at the Faculty Authors Reception with Eccliastes's fateful promise: "Of making many books there is no end." Faculty authors who were present at the reception, held in the Abernethy Room on Feb. 21, laughed out loud, knowing all too well the fundamental truth of this passage.

The annual reception has honored the scholarly and creative work of Middlebury College's faculty authors for the past 16 years. In that time, 273 faculty members, the majority of whom hail from the English Department, have been recognized for their literary achievements outside of the classroom. The 22 books selected for this year's reception, each accompanied by an explanatory paragraph written by its author, will be displayed in an exhibit set up by Special Collections Assistant Danielle Rougeau in the main lobby of Starr Library through the end of March.

Although this reception generously gives the entire College community an opportunity to publicly recognize and praise its faculty authors' literary efforts, the majority of people at the reception were the authors themselves.

Perhaps due to lack of advertising — only faculty were sent invitations — not one student climbed the stairs to the Abernethy Room to acknowledge the achievements of the faculty. This lack of student presence speaks to the lack of awareness, or perhaps even appreciation, students have for their faculty as authors, scholars or simply as thinkers outside of the classroom. Receptions like this one give students the rare opportunity to think about their faculty as more than classroom professors.

Regardless, the somewhat homogeneous group seemed pleased to be in each other's company as they circulated through the room, happily conversing about academic and personal subjects. Soon Schine offered a toast to the group and asked each author who was present to introduce himself, state the title of his book and offer just one sentence about his work. Schine then astutely admitted that a one-sentence restriction would be impossible for academics with such vast vocabularies to obey.

Nonetheless, the authors proceeded to do their best to briefly, yet accurately, convey the main message of their books. They did so in a lighthearted yet serious tone. While appreciating the chance to present what was probably years of effort finally printed into a volume of words, they jokingly teased each other. Suggestions as to who would star, were it a film, in College Professor Emeritus of History Nicholas R. Clifford's, "Reflections on the Bicentennial" were made when he introduced his book. Matt Damon or perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger were proposed in jest.

Congruent with the College's strong commitment to the study of foreign languages, the collection of work presented this year included a noticeably high percentage of translations and foreign language books in Chinese, Finnish, French, Russian and Spanish.

There were two Middlebury College-specific volumes, both focusing on the Bicentennial: Clifford's "Reflections of the Bicentennial" and Fletcher D. Proctor Professor of American History Travis Beal Jacobs's "General Catalogue of Middlebury College." In addition to these scholarly works, Writer-in-Residence Julia Alvarez contributed a children's book, "How Tía Lola Came to Stay."

The paragraph that accompanied Alvarez's book in the display case stated that this book for young readers is "about a Latin family who comes to live in a small college town in Vermont and are joined by their wacky Tía Lola, who can't speak English but, like the Mary Poppins of British fame, has some tricks up her sleeve."

At the reception, Alvarez jokingly, yet fittingly, tagged the book, "Vermont meets the Dominican Republic."

After the official introduction of their books, authors welcomed conversation about the nature of their literary work. When asked whether he uses his own texts in the classroom, Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies John Elder said that he has in fact enjoyed using his literature in the past for courses such as Visions of Nature.

However, Elder denounced unethical self-promotion by saying that he always puts plenty of copies on reserve at Starr Library and does not expect his students to purchase expensive hardcover editions.

Elder recognized the possibility that using his own texts as assigned reading for courses could present tension between him and his students.

Specifically, depending upon the nature of the work, a student may feel disinclined to disagree with a display of expertise in the form of a book written by their professor. Elder hoped that this hesitancy was not the case in his classroom.

In his notes on the back of the reception's program, Bob Buckeye, special collections librarian and author of "Pressure Drop," also included in this year's display, neatly summed up the worth of having faculty authors as members of a college community: "On college campuses, books circulate in several ways. In the most basic sense of the mission of a school, books by its faculty tie the world of scholarship to that of teaching. The scholarship of a teacher finds palpable form in a book just as his scholarship, in its other, complementary function, realizes itself in a classroom. The book is the body and blood of scholarship. The classroom is the crucible for thought."

The College Store has designated a special shelf to spotlight faculty authors as well as a link on their Web site focused on the College's faculty authors.

The link can be found at http://www.middlebury.edu/%7Estore/booksfac.html. A wide selection of books is available and can be ordered directly from the store's secure Web page.