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Moyle Q. Rice
Lectureship
“How rare to have someone so plainly in love with life in front of a class, serving up to all comers his take on Shelley, say, or the maneuverings of the Army ROTC on the quad, it didn’t matter, what was important was the intelligent humor, the quiet, sly humor. The students sat there and took it in. Many became teachers—after Moyle, the possibilities in that line of work seemed . . . infinite.” — Tom Lyon
The Lectureship
The Department of English at Utah State University has created an endowment to fund a Moyle Q. Rice Lectureship. Named for one of USU’s most influential and honored teachers of writing, this annual lecture series will celebrate the art of writing itself, regardless of the form used or the disciplinary content involved.
We seek individual private donations to develop an endowment of $100,000 that would enable us to bring to campus each year one of the world’s most outstanding writers of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction for a week of lectures and workshops, providing important cultural enrichment for students, faculty, and the community. It will be an annual celebration unique in the history of the arts and humanities on the USU campus and will keep alive something of the spirit of inquiry and celebration that marked Moyle’s teaching.
We invite all alumni and friends to become a part of this endowment effort. Moyle’s teaching touched—and changed—many lives, and we appeal to all those who share the values he embodied to contribute to this endowment.
You may donate online through the Development Office at http://www.usu.edu/~develop/support.html. If you would like to talk with a development officer about your donation, please call Linda Morse, Director of External Relations for the Department of English, at (435) 797-0261.
The Man
Moyle Q. Rice, an English professor for 45 years at USU before retiring in 1982, was widely known for his brilliant teaching, his penetrating mind, and his wicked sense of humor.
“His enthusiasm for great literature, and a lifetime of learning, exemplified to me the essence of a liberal arts education. Knowledge is its own reward. The purpose of education is not merely to get a job, but to get a life. His teaching appeared so effortless, admirers called Moyle Q. Rice ‘A Natural.’ I suspect he prepared for every lecture like an artist; the art that concealed his art was diligent study and perspiration.” — Josey Barnes Wayman
“The chief value of his wit and wisdom was made manifest in the classroom. He taught the literature of the world, and led people into the enjoyments of the world of literature.” — T. Y. Booth
“I never left his class without feeling more alive and more creative than I did when I came in. I was always delighted to be in his presence. Moyle was an incredible treasure of wisdom, insight and sheer joy.” — Marjorie Hansen Kutchinski
“I clearly remember lectures, marked-up papers, even, heaven forbid, memorized lists of terms—all those half-scorned teaching methods—Moyle made not only successful, but wonderful, inspiring, and unforgettable. I suppose it was not so much method or pedagogy, but the force of mind and personality, and a quality of passion and commitment and caring. As his students, we knew he paid absolute attention to what we wrote. We knew that, of a surety, because he carried on a dialogue with us in the margins of our papers.” — Helen B. Cannon
“He had a mind that penetrated reality in a startling way. He was one of the great ones. In all my years of experience, I never met his equal.”— Jarvis Anderson
“Although Moyle was an extremely popular teacher, he never compromised his academic integrity or cultivated ‘groupies.’ He could reach all kinds of students—the skeptic and the spiritually enlightened, the self-styled intellectual from prep school who had read Proust and the naive kid from the farm whose parents didn’t read anything but the mail. The kind of magic Moyle performed in the classroom can’t be explained or analyzed, simulated or, unfortunately, taught. It simply happens when a truly gifted teacher gets the opportunity to do what he loves most: join young minds in probing the eternal and unanswerable questions of the universe.” — Roberta Stearman
Jeffrey Smitten
6/29/2004 9:53:58 AM
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