Endorsing the Arts

Honoring institutional beginnings: Founders' Day traditional procession with the university mace, carried by University Marshal Emeritus Richard White. Megan Morr

Duke's 107th annual Founders' Day Convocation, held in Duke Chapel in October, featured a strong call for commitment to the arts and humanities. The convocation speaker was Craufurd Goodwin Ph.D. '58, James B. Duke Professor of economics and a key organizer of this year's Bloomsbury celebration at Duke

Honoring institutional beginnings: Founders' Day ceremonies included tributes to Bostock, Haltom, and Forlines, top to bottom, above. Megan Morr

Goodwin noted that his own department serves one-fifth of the majors in Trinity College. "I don't think this imbalance is good for the college, my department, or the student majors themselves," he said. "For life outside their jobs, a broad liberal education will be their best guide and best resource."

For too long, most of the university community has thought of the humanities and the arts as "relatively isolated units that, except for occasional provision of entertainment, do what they do unconnected to the rest of the institution," he added. "They should be thought of instead as purveyors of enlightenment for scholars at all levels and relevant to fields from mathematics to public policy, from law to engineering."

During the ceremony, John A. Forlines '39 and Allison Haltom '72 were awarded the University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service, one of Duke's highest honors.

Forlines led the Bank of Granite in Granite Falls, North Carolina, for fifty-two years, helping to turn one of the state's smallest banks into one of the nation's best-known and most-profitable community banks. President of the Duke Alumni Association from 1970 to 1971, he received the alumni association's Distinguished Alumni Award and served as a Duke trustee from 1974 to 1990. He has served on many other boards, including the original board of Duke's Management Company (DUMAC), which manages the university's endowment fund.

After graduating from Duke's former Woman's College, Haltom joined the staff of the undergraduate admissions office. In 1976, she was named assistant director of annual giving; she was later promoted to director of the Duke Annual Fund, the first woman to hold that position. She became university secretary in 1986 and was named vice president in 2001. As a Duke volunteer, she has served on the Duke Alumni Association's board of directors.

Founders' Day also saw the bestowing of several other high honors. Roy Bostock '62 received Duke's Distinguished Alumni Award. The Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award went to Henri P. Gavin, W.H. Gardner Jr. Associate Professor of civil engineering. The University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award, given by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, was presented to Larry B. Crowder, Stephen Toth Professor of marine biology.