Green and McGowan Granted Emeritus Status
Green and McGowan Granted Emeritus Status
June 20, 2012
PROFESSORS HONORED. Two former Lyndon State College professors, Frank Green and Dorian McGowan, have been granted Professor of Humanities Emeritus status. The awards were confirmed by a special vote of the Vermont State College (VSC) Board of Trustees. LSC President Steve Gold nominated both candidates for the honor with the enthusiastic support of many members of the LSC community who wrote letters in support of the two professors.
Emeritus status is awarded to retired professors who have a recognized record of outstanding teaching, exceptional professional achievement, and have provided extraordinary service to their college. The individual must have a minimum of 10 years of full-time employment with the VSC.
Professor of Education Frank Green retired in 2004 after teaching for 34 years at LSC. A creative and innovative developer of curricula, Green taught the pedagogy of reading to both future teachers and teachers in the field. Green’s love of children’s literature is legendary. As Jennifer Barone, coordinator of professional learning at Caledonia North Supervisory Union shared, “Dr. Green emphasized the positive effect children’s literature has on the development of early literacy and how it fosters a lifelong love of reading.”
Gold writes, “Perhaps Dr. Green’s greatest contribution was that he passed on his deep love of children’s literature to legions of students; he believed in its power to change individual lives as well as our cultural beliefs.”
For five years, Green served on the board that selected the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award for Outstanding Literature for Children. He was a consultant for the national “Right to Read” program and served on both the Vermont Council on the Book and Vermont Council on the Humanities.
Professor Dorian McGowan retired in 2006 after 47 years as a member of the art department faculty; much of that time as a department of one. During his tenure at LSC, his classroom space was actually one of his studios. Students were treated to McGowan’s ability to generate nearly endless pieces of art. Gold said as the unofficial “king” of recycling, McGowan demonstrated that art could be created from anything-from “tin cans to detergent bottles, from bicycle gears to egg cartons.” Gold adds, “His creativity and imagination are boundless.”
McGowan’s “exquisite taste and legion of interest” are evident in the art book collection at the Samuel Read Hall Library. Gold calls the collection “unparalleled in breadth and quality.”
McGowan is still a regular and welcome presence on campus, roaming the halls with an arm load of books, a personal project, or a fresh drawing. He continues to create portraits of current students, faculty, and staff which are shown in the Science Wing’s display case. He also creates work for the “Column Gallery” in the Samuel Read Hall Library-a rotating collection cleverly suited to display on a narrow column adjacent to the main circulation desk.
Gerry Whitaker, a middle school teacher in northern Vermont, sums up McGowan’s legacy this way, “He was such a positive influence on my life that my wife and I named our first-born son after him. Could there be a higher statement of honor?”
Individuals with emeritus status do not receive compensation. However, they are eligible for special assignments by the college for appropriate compensation and/or reimbursement for expenses at the discretion of the President and within guidelines of the Vermont State Colleges.