Mark C. Taylor, Cluett Professor of Humanities, Emeritus
“Beware of certainties” and “embrace complexity”: these two theses you nailed to the door of the cathedral of conventional religious thought. In doing so, you have upended the accepted wisdom of what constitutes religion, how it should be studied, and how it manifests itself in the secular world. At Williams you have challenged many of our most intellectually vibrant students at levels that led to your being named a Carnegie Foundation National Professor of the Year. At the same time you have helped faculty colleagues, across the academic divisions, to see their disciplines with fresh eyes. With scholarship of astounding breadth and depth you also have established yourself as one of the critical thinkers of your generation, with work that enlivens the curricula of colleges and graduate schools across the country and beyond. You have been particularly ahead of your time in challenging the academy to think about the complex relationship between the virtual and the real and about the potential of technology to transform how we teach and how we learn. Very much a public intellectual, you have also taken your message to wider audiences through appearances on the op-ed page of The New York Times and on the set of Charlie Rose. Of one thing we indeed can be certain: because of you Williams College has been intellectually the richer.
I hereby declare you Cluett Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 7, 2009