Victor E. Hill IV, Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
You have personified the liberal arts ideal of the Renaissance man. In your forty years at Williams you have contributed to the fields of mathematics, music, literature, and history through your teaching and textbook writing, your musical concerts, your Winter Study offerings on the work of C.S. Lewis, and your development of innovative courses on the history of mathematics and the mathematics of finance. Your textbook on the theory of groups and group characters was considered the first accessible exploration of that important field. Your performances on piano, organ, and harpsichord have delighted and educated audiences not just on campus and in the northern Berkshires but across the country and abroad. Most notable may have been your often-requested talk and performance on “The Mathematical Aspects of the Music of Bach.” And you have devoted your talents to the marrying of music and worship in a large number of churches and in leadership roles with the Association of Anglican Musicians. In all these ways you have helped countless students, colleagues, worshipers, and audience members to see the world in richer ways.
I hereby declare you Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 4 , 2006