Dr. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972-88, will deliver the inaugural MacVicar Day lecture on Friday, Feb. 6. His topic will be "Good Teaching -- In a New Day."
The lecture, hosted by the MacVicar Fellows and sponsored by President Charles Vest, Provost Joel Moses and Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education Rosalind Williams, is scheduled for 3-5pm in the Bartos Theater of the Media Laboratory. Admission is free and the public is invited.
Dr. Bowen, now president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will speak for about 45 minutes, followed by a panel discussion involving MacVicar Fellows Alan Oppenheim, Margery Resnick, Robert Silbey, Arthur Steinberg and Charles Stewart; graduate students Guan-Ien Cheng, Andrew Russell and Jacob Seid; and seniors Morgan McGuire and Iddo Gilon. The event concludes with a reception.
Dr. Bowen, a graduate of Denison University, received the PhD from Princeton in 1958, after which he joined the faculty in the Department of Economics. He served as provost from 1967-72 before assuming the presidency.
In addition to heading the Mellon Foundation, Dr. Bowen serves on the boards of directors of American Express, Denison University, JSTOR, Merck and Co., and TIAA-CREF. He has written or co-authored 15 books, including Ever the Teacher in 1987.
The 1998 MacVicar Fellows will be announced earlier in the day at a luncheon hosted by President Vest.
The program, created in 1992, honors Margaret MacVicar, former dean for undergraduate education, who died in 1991 at age 47. The purpose is to recognize and enhance outstanding contributions to undergraduate education at MIT. There are currently 29 MacVicar Fellows.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 28, 1998.
