Professor Arthur C. Smith, with whom Paul Gray shared an office when they began their MIT faculty careers, read this resolution at the May faculty meeting.
"A Resolution Welcoming Paul E. Gray Back to the Faculty:
"Whereas the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has observed the trajectory of Paul Edward Gray through the ranks of the administration from associate dean to dean to associate provost to chancellor to president to chairman of the Corporation and now concludes that he has nowhere to go but up; and
"Whereas he has been heard on many occasions to state that being a professor is the best job at MIT; and
"Whereas he was one of the best teachers at the Institute before he began his administrative safari and has consistently achieved high marks for his teaching in a part-time role while being president and chairman; and
"Whereas the Institute can never have too many fine teachers while it is amply supplied with administrators; and
"Whereas the Faculty needs all the help we can get in this era of tight resources and our students deserve the best we can offer; therefore
"Be it resolved that the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on the twenty-first of May, nineteen hundred and ninety seven, hereby enthusiastically welcomes Paul Edward Gray back to the ranks of the working Faculty and to the enjoyment of all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. The Faculty hopes that our students will have the opportunity to learn from him well into the next century and that he will have no occasion to doubt that being a professor is indeed the best job at MIT."
Dr. Gray declared that he "looked forward with great relish" to "hanging his hat in Building 38" beginning in September.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 4, 1997.
