Dear Orange Friends:
Ruth and I had 103 emeritus faculty and their spouses and partners over for lunch this past week. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of stories, a lot of advice, and more than a few meetings of longtime friends after many years. Together, these citizens of Syracuse University have given more than two millennia of service to our University.
They keep giving. Many—indeed almost all—of our honored guests continue to teach, to write, or to serve across our community. And they continue to care a lot about this place and the people here. One of the guests was Marvin Druger, who current students know mostly as an affable tour guide to the campus, but who legions of alumni know as the irrepressible biology professor whose jokes and stories and passion for active learning propelled them forward (and who propelled them to run after the test papers he would throw out his office window to the students waiting below).
Ruth met and then made sure I got to know Marvin. No one can accuse him of being quiet—whether on a tour, in a meeting, or in his long-running columns and radio programs. But I want you to know he is quietly pouring himself into current students on this campus, right now by making possible the renovation of the Holden Observatory into a neat astronomy classroom and laboratory. It will be beautiful and accessible and a tribute to his late wife Pat, who also devoted herself across a long career to our students.
I thank Marvin and all emeritus faculty for their continued kindness and service. The word “emeritus” comes from combining the Latin for “completing” and for “merit,” suggesting today that an emeritus is someone who, on finishing a career, merited a lifelong title. The emeritus faculty at our lunch are far from finished. They embody complete merit, and I am grateful to them.
Sincerely,
Chancellor Kent Syverud