AU/VHMI GIZET1 of the Clege of H/Lliam and /Way
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AU/VHMI GIZET1 of the Clege of H/lliam and /Way Dean Fowler hear his recitation of the English monarch and his six wives. "England under the Tudors and An Institution Retires After 40 Superb Years Stuarts" was his speciality. Even after he became dean of the faculty, Fowler taught the history of those two royal families until his final session this past spring. His History 101-102 by the early 1960s was so popular that enrollment exceeded 500 students per semester. He had to give successive lectures because at that time there was no hall at the college large enough to accommodate all the persons signed up for the course. During the 30 years that he taught 101-102 he said that he never became bored. In fact, he explained, "it hurt me Dean Fowler in when I had to give it up in '64." 1934 and in more "No, I never got bored. I feel that a recent times in professor should not be in this game his cap and gown. unless he really likes young people. And lecturing to large numbers had a very definite appeal for me. "That may sound immodest, but I got great satisfaction and pleasure from it, because it was in that way that I got to by Wilford Kale '66 him here. Again he grinned. "That rumor He taught four different courses that know so many students and why I know The author of this article, W. Wilford was equally unfounded." first semester here, Fowler explained. A so many alumni today." Kale '66, is chief of the Richmond Having established himself as a new curriculum was instituted in 1935 Fowler noted that during the 1930's, Times-Dispatch Bureau in Williamsburg. dedicated lover of the school, Fowler also and included a requirement that students 40's and 50's "one of the fine things He is a former student of Dean Fowler. set another story straight. had to select from series of courses about William and Mary has been that top Even though he has enjoyed his 10 including the History of Europe, which senior professors taught the introductory His career at the College of William years in the deanship and his work in they simply began to call History subject courses. and Mary was in its waning hours. He was college administration, Fowler said he 101-102. "I did the history, Bill Guy the completing reports to be turned over to would like to be remembered as a Dr. Fowler made 101-102 a legend. chemistry, Jim Miller then Frank the next Dean of the Faculty of Arts and "teacher, not an administrator." Developing the course himself, he MacDonald the philosophy and Dick Sciences. "My greatest personal satisfaction," he modeled it "very closely on the History 1 Newman, the fine arts and so it went. His famed notes for his lectures on the said during the rare interview, "has been course at Harvard." It was through this And some of this has continued to be English Kings and Queens of the Tudor my teaching and the contacts it has given course that he first met many of his true today." and Stuart era were already packed away. me with my students." students. The reasoning behind it was "to give And just prior to his retirement last June Most of the thousands of former His structured lectures, in which some freshmen a firm footing and an 30, he took a little time to discuss his 40 students think of him primarily- in students claimed that you could easily opportunity to know what was expected years at the nation's second oldest Washington 200 lecture hall, behind the lose 100 years if you dropped your of him at the outset," he explained. "And college. lecturn, gesturing, emphasizing and doling pencil, soon became his trademark. I think all of us who did that were For Dr. Harold Lees Fowler William out 100 of years of history in a single A 50-minute lecture on King Henry genuinely interested in teaching and Mary had been his only professional 50-minute class. VIII was recognized several years ago by freshmen, not simply because of the full-time teaching position "and my wife Fowler and another Harvard man were alumni as the "most famous and most subject we were teaching," and I never at any time thought about the only two faculty members hired by popular lecture" ever given at William and Just as he made a mark on students leaving. We were always happy in the college in the Depression year of Mary. By the time Fowler had been giving through his teaching of history, his Williamsburg. 1934. The school was small and he was the course three or four years, its colleagues agree now that Dr. Fowler has "I found that I personally stood for interviewed and hired by President John popularity was a campuswide topic. made another mark on the William and what William and Mary was trying to do," Stewart Bryan and the long-time Students from past terms would learn Mary faculty through his decade of Dr. Fowler explained, noting some of the chairman of the history department Dr. that Henry VIII was to be given again and service as dean. reasons he stayed here. "I had great Richard L. Morton. they would crowd Washington 200 to During the last 10 years William and confidence in William and Mary's Mary has grown from the concept of one potential as a first rate undergraduate "faculty" directed by Fowler to multiple college of arts and sciences." A Return To The Front faculties. And he acknowledges that the Dr. Fowler joined the William and institution went through "growing pains Mary faculty in the fall of 1934. Carter O. Lowance, executive vice and several administrative "Actually the college was already president at William and Mary since 1970, reorganizations" as the college expanded. officially underway when I was will leave the College on September 1 to It was also during that important appointed," he said. "Registration was in rejoin the staff of Governor Mills E. decade that "the whole business of progress when I came for an interview." Godwin. Lowance, affectionately known student unrest" became the focal point of His appointment was as an assistant in Richmond as the "assistant governor" American higher education. Students at professor of history and rising through because he has served so many William and Mary "took the form of the ranks to associate professor in 1943, administrations, left Governor Godwins conflict between administration and he became a full professor in 1946 and staff when the Governor's administration students," Fowler explained. head of the history department in 1959. went out of office after his first term. While his office was not directly A graduate of Dartmouth College, Godwin won a second term last fall. In involved, he watched the entire episode Fowler received his M.A. and Ph.D. his four and one-half years at William and from the sidelines. Fowler said that now degrees from Harvard. There was a Mary, Lowance won the respect and in the 1970's the important relationships persistent rumor on the campus for many admiration of all factions of the College emerging are not so much between years that Harvard was always trying to for his integrity and fairness. Even the continued on page 4 lure him back. student newspaper The Flat Hat, which Leaning back in his desk chair, Fowler rarely has a kind word for the Miss Martha Barksdale, '21, has been grinned and laughed. "That's one rumor administration, praised him in an editorial admitted to the Patrick Henry Hospital, that was totally unfounded. I've always earlier in the year. President Graves'called for the chronically ill, Denbigh Blvd, been happy here...just a crazy rumor." Lowance's deparature "a great loss for me Denbigh Station, Newport News, Va. Another tale said that the alumni of personally and for the College." He said 23602. All cards and letters would be William and Mary were always giving the College would begin to explore how greatly appreciated, especially for her money to increase his salary and keep best to fill the void. birthday on November 8. rests on a specified body of knowledge, often involves the learning of a technique, and is capable of being certified. A professional education in law or accounting or dentistry aims at certification through the demonstrated mastery of a corpus of knowledge or set of skills. Its purpose is specific and immediate, as well as utilitarian. While it is usually not so, professional education can quite legitimately involve a process of rote learning. Having taken degrees in Dean Livingston (center) with two of his colleagues in the Department of Religion, David Holmes (left) and Jack Van Horn. both a liberal arts and a professional school, I know of what I speak. I also know very well that a lot of specifically professional education goes on in the sciences and humanities and that genuine liberal learning takes place in the professional courses. Nevertheless, these two worthwhile forms of education have distinct and quite different purposes and aims. There is a tension present in any undergraduate program that includes them both-as we do at William and Mary. Miss Blake, a June graduate of the College, was invited by the Gazette to Undergraduate Dean Looks at the College reflect upon her recent years as an undergraduate at William and Mary. The Dean of the Undergraduate faculty and administration see things an "identity crisis." During these years During that time, Miss Blake served on Program, Dr.