August 14, 2001 Letter to the Religious Studies Faculty
AUGUST 14, 2001 LETTER TO THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES FACULTY
AUGUST 14, 2001 LETTER TO THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES FACULTY
by Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
by Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
Today is my last day as Director of the Religious Studies Program. As I have been anticipating this change in the Director of our program, I have been thinking back over the enormous changes I have seen in the institutional position of faculty in the area of religion during my twenty years at Virginia Tech. Permit me to rehearse just a bit of that history with you-so we will share some knowledge of our roots. I first came to Virginia Tech in 1980, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion (housed in Henderson Hall, except that my office was in "Tech Motel."). The Department of Philosophy and Religion represented a struggling marriage between the two fields. When I was promoted to Associate Professor in 1985, it was as a member of the Department of Religion (housed in Patton Hall). For a number of years I told people that Philosophy and Religion were divorced and lived happily ever after! In 1992, when I was promoted to full Professor, we were still the Department of Religion, but that came to an end with the retirement of the chair, Chuck Kennedy in 1994, a time of severe financial crisis for the university. At that time the religion faculty were told (by an acting Dean of Arts and Sciences) that, in a move to save administrative costs, the Religion Department would be "merged" with the Center for Programs in the Humanities. When I asked what this new unit would be called I was told, "The Center for Programs in the Humanities." I argued vigorously against this submerger with the Provost (Fred Carlisle), and the plans were put on hold until the Dean of Arts of Sciences position was filled. From the new Dean, Bob Bates, I learned that in the next year all the "small units" in the College of Arts and Sciences would be working to form a new combined unit. I said, "We'll wait for that," and we were changed from a Department (with a Chair) to a free-standing Program (with a Coordinator, me) for one year. Not much later, when Joyce WilliamsGreen, newly appointed to head Black Studies, observed to the new Dean Bates that all the programs slated for union that were headed by women had "coordinators" and all the programs that were headed by men had "directors," we all became directors immediately! When Kennedy retired in 1994 we had six fulltime faculty in Religion, plus one joint appointee with Humanities, and a fulltime secretary. We went to a halftime secretary for 1994-95, and no secretary after that. We dropped from six to five to four to three faculty-with retirements and departures during times of a hiring freeze-before stabilizing at four again with the coming of Brian Britt in 1996 (as the two-year-delayed "replacement" for Chuck Kennedy). We had a hard time hanging onto our new space as well. All of the rooms in our present wing of Major Williams were renovated specifically for the Religion Department. It was a struggle for the Religious Studies Program to hold onto five rooms (four offices and the workroom) in Major Williams when we moved from Patton with only three faculty, but we did. I argued that we had a brighter future. We could not hold onto our library (which was to have been housed in 201 ), consisting mostly of books from the Moehering Collection (given to the Department) that the university library could not accommodate, so the collection was sold and the money contributed to our Virginia Tech Foundation Account. We have been active participants in CIS since before the beginning. I represented Religious Studies on the initial planning committee in 1994, the Transition Task Force on Administrative Structures in 1994-95, the Transition Coordinating Council in 1994-95, and the Steering Committee from 1995-2001. The first person tenured in CIS was in Religious Studies, Elizabeth Bounds. In a period of scarce resources that had to be negotiated with the CIS Steering Committee, we were able to make three hires in Religious Studies in a period of four years: Brian Britt in 1996, Stacey Floyd-Thomas in 1998, and Ananda Abeysekara in 1999. This meant we were all pretty busy with search committees for several years! We had been faithful in our "paybacks" to Humanities in the years when we had a "joint appointee," and we were the first Program in CIS to make a definite commitment that our Program faculty will teach approximately 25% of our courses in other programs within CIS, including the lOST courses once they were developed. Thus the seven years during which I have been Director of the Religious Studies Program (1994-2001) have seen impressive changes. What has not changed is our commitment to excellence in teaching. That is part of our past that we can carry proudly into our future. While the number of faculty and the level of institutional support have decreased, the research and publication records of our faculty have increased! That is a part of our present that we can carry further in our future. As I take leave of the position of Director of Religious Studies, few of the externals are the same as when I started. Since 1994 our name has changed, our status within the college and university has changed, all but one (me) of our faculty changed, our offices have moved, even our computers have changed from IBMs to Macs. What has remained is our commitment to being the best teachers and scholars we can be, good citizens of the university and our department, and just plain decent human beings to each other as colleagues. May it ever be so. Best wishes to you all, and especially to Brian as he becomes our new Director. Peace.
Today is my last day as Director of the Religious Studies Program. As I have been anticipating this change in the Director of our program, I have been thinking back over the enormous changes I have seen in the institutional position of faculty in the area of religion during my twenty years at Virginia Tech. Permit me to rehearse just a bit of that history with you-so we will share some knowledge of our roots. I first came to Virginia Tech in 1980, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion (housed in Henderson Hall, except that my office was in "Tech Motel."). The Department of Philosophy and Religion represented a struggling marriage between the two fields. When I was promoted to Associate Professor in 1985, it was as a member of the Department of Religion (housed in Patton Hall). For a number of years I told people that Philosophy and Religion were divorced and lived happily ever after! In 1992, when I was promoted to full Professor, we were still the Department of Religion, but that came to an end with the retirement of the chair, Chuck Kennedy in 1994, a time of severe financial crisis for the university. At that time the religion faculty were told (by an acting Dean of Arts and Sciences) that, in a move to save administrative costs, the Religion Department would be "merged" with the Center for Programs in the Humanities. When I asked what this new unit would be called I was told, "The Center for Programs in the Humanities." I argued vigorously against this submerger with the Provost (Fred Carlisle), and the plans were put on hold until the Dean of Arts of Sciences position was filled. From the new Dean, Bob Bates, I learned that in the next year all the "small units" in the College of Arts and Sciences would be working to form a new combined unit. I said, "We'll wait for that," and we were changed from a Department (with a Chair) to a free-standing Program (with a Coordinator, me) for one year. Not much later, when Joyce WilliamsGreen, newly appointed to head Black Studies, observed to the new Dean Bates that all the programs slated for union that were headed by women had "coordinators" and all the programs that were headed by men had "directors," we all became directors immediately! When Kennedy retired in 1994 we had six fulltime faculty in Religion, plus one joint appointee with Humanities, and a fulltime secretary. We went to a halftime secretary for 1994-95, and no secretary after that. We dropped from six to five to four to three faculty-with retirements and departures during times of a hiring freeze-before stabilizing at four again with the coming of Brian Britt in 1996 (as the two-year-delayed "replacement" for Chuck Kennedy). We had a hard time hanging onto our new space as well. All of the rooms in our present wing of Major Williams were renovated specifically for the Religion Department. It was a struggle for the Religious Studies Program to hold onto five rooms (four offices and the workroom) in Major Williams when we moved from Patton with only three faculty, but we did. I argued that we had a brighter future. We could not hold onto our library (which was to have been housed in 201 ), consisting mostly of books from the Moehering Collection (given to the Department) that the university library could not accommodate, so the collection was sold and the money contributed to our Virginia Tech Foundation Account. We have been active participants in CIS since before the beginning. I represented Religious Studies on the initial planning committee in 1994, the Transition Task Force on Administrative Structures in 1994-95, the Transition Coordinating Council in 1994-95, and the Steering Committee from 1995-2001. The first person tenured in CIS was in Religious Studies, Elizabeth Bounds. In a period of scarce resources that had to be negotiated with the CIS Steering Committee, we were able to make three hires in Religious Studies in a period of four years: Brian Britt in 1996, Stacey Floyd-Thomas in 1998, and Ananda Abeysekara in 1999. This meant we were all pretty busy with search committees for several years! We had been faithful in our "paybacks" to Humanities in the years when we had a "joint appointee," and we were the first Program in CIS to make a definite commitment that our Program faculty will teach approximately 25% of our courses in other programs within CIS, including the lOST courses once they were developed. Thus the seven years during which I have been Director of the Religious Studies Program (1994-2001) have seen impressive changes. What has not changed is our commitment to excellence in teaching. That is part of our past that we can carry proudly into our future. While the number of faculty and the level of institutional support have decreased, the research and publication records of our faculty have increased! That is a part of our present that we can carry further in our future. As I take leave of the position of Director of Religious Studies, few of the externals are the same as when I started. Since 1994 our name has changed, our status within the college and university has changed, all but one (me) of our faculty changed, our offices have moved, even our computers have changed from IBMs to Macs. What has remained is our commitment to being the best teachers and scholars we can be, good citizens of the university and our department, and just plain decent human beings to each other as colleagues. May it ever be so. Best wishes to you all, and especially to Brian as he becomes our new Director. Peace.