Southwestern University has partnered with Grupo Salinas and Centro Richard B. Salinas Pliego to create two new scholarships for high school students in Mexico.
Southwestern University rose 13 places inU.S. News & World Report’s 2023Best Collegesrankings—the biggest single-year jump in school history—and SU was also recognized as a top school in the Social Mobility category, which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
Fifty years ago, Title IX was signed into law. The landmark legislation transformed women’s athletics. We look back at our history and pioneers as we continue to strive for equity in all we do.
Through the Southwestern Racial History Project, faculty and students are sharing their knowledge and expertise with colleagues through the Universities Studying Slavery consortium.
Southwestern University rose 13 places inU.S. News & World Report’s 2023Best Collegesrankings—the biggest single-year jump in school history—and SU was also recognized as a top school in the Social Mobility category, which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
Fifty years ago, Title IX was signed into law. The landmark legislation transformed women’s athletics. We look back at our history and pioneers as we continue to strive for equity in all we do.
Southwestern University rose 13 places inU.S. News & World Report’s 2023Best Collegesrankings—the biggest single-year jump in school history—and SU was also recognized as a top school in the Social Mobility category, which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
This initiative was announced in October 2021 as part of a $1 million commitment from an anonymous donor in honor of their mother, a lifelong educator, in order to allow more Southwestern students to benefit from high impact experiences as outlined in the Tactical Plan.
SU celebrates five campus community members with the 2022 Mundy Awards and recognizes those who have achieved milestone anniversaries with the University.
Southwestern University has partnered with Grupo Salinas and Centro Richard B. Salinas Pliego to create two new scholarships for high school students in Mexico.
Through the Southwestern Racial History Project, faculty and students are sharing their knowledge and expertise with colleagues through the Universities Studying Slavery consortium.
Southwestern University rose 13 places inU.S. News & World Report’s 2023Best Collegesrankings—the biggest single-year jump in school history—and SU was also recognized as a top school in the Social Mobility category, which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
What happens when you start a devised theater project with three Southwestern University students and the Anton Checkov play, The Cherry Orchard? You end up with a nationally recognized production called G.H.O.S.T. Unit: The Live Event.
Southwestern University rose 13 places inU.S. News & World Report’s 2023Best Collegesrankings—the biggest single-year jump in school history—and SU was also recognized as a top school in the Social Mobility category, which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
Fifty years ago, Title IX was signed into law. The landmark legislation transformed women’s athletics. We look back at our history and pioneers as we continue to strive for equity in all we do.
What happens when you start a devised theater project with three Southwestern University students and the Anton Checkov play, The Cherry Orchard? You end up with a nationally recognized production called G.H.O.S.T. Unit: The Live Event.
Illustration of Dr. Thomas Howe. Credit: Robert LinHow long have you been working in higher education?
I came to Southwestern in 1985, straight from Harvard Square. It was a bit of a shock, like Elizabeth Taylor inGiantmoving to Marfa, Texas! But it turned out well worth staying. I have close relations with numerous successful alumni and can conduct an international research career from here and through my travels, and I have contributed to building two really good departments (art and art history). I wouldn’t move to an R1 university now; these departments are better.
What inspired you to pursue a career in higher education?
I wanted to pursue a creative career in architecture in a revolutionary age and have, and in education, I have found the direct rewards of watching young people grow and be empowered by what I apparently teach. I now have a number of very successful alumni whom I have sent to some of the best architecture and graduate schools in the country and who occupy very prestigious positions in firms and museums and universities.
During your years at Southwestern, how has the university changed but also stayed the same?
After the von Humboldt model, faculty no longer convey fixed knowledge but are now current contributors to the dynamic knowledge in their fields. When I came here, few faculty were active researchers, and nobody had ever worked internationally. But the personal concern for accessibility for serious students has stayed the same.
What is something your students or colleagues would be surprised to know about you?
Probably nothing! They are used to being surprised.
When not working, you can find me …
Working. Work is play. I never stop.
If you could have a drink at the Cove with anyone in the world, living or dead, what would the beverage be, who would the person be, and why?
Oooh, that’s a good one. I have had some really good conversations with amazing people, often over drinks: Archibald Cox (Watergate special prosecutor), Charles Moore (most influential postmodern architect), Sherri Rowland (Nobel ’95). The drink: Brunello di Montalcino, Castello Banfi, with black truffle paste. No need to talk to dead people; they leave their legacy in writings, which come alive when you sit down and read them.
Describe your dream vacation.
Travel for work is more fun. I get to travel to really interesting locations and be an insider in the local professional culture. Often, I get picked up by car and driver; give a lecture, often in the local language (Italian often and, recently, French); get free time and enjoy a guided tour of Lisbon or the Golden Ring of Moscow, a stroll through the Hermitage with a badge, a lecture and birthday dinner at the Hong Kong Club, a lecture at the American Embassy in Rome or the Smithsonian in Washington, keynote lectures at Moscow State University and Siracusa Sicily; and make stuff really happen at my huge archaeological site at Stabiae, near Pompeii, Italy, coordinating to date 35 international universities and research institutions.
OK, and a stroll along the North San Gabriel hike and bike trail can be a pretty good quick change: turtles, field mice, gurgling spring, shady trees. And the wild birds in my backyard’s bird feeder: endless vitality. They never stop, either. I used to row. I miss it.
If you could choose one superpower, what would it be?
The United States is still humanity’s best bet, so long as we refresh our commitment to democratically determined government guaranteed by freedom of the press and insistence upon accurate, rational discourse and the critical identification of falsehoods and fallacy. Don’t vote for someone who blatantly lies or is evasive, even if he or she makes you feel better.
What advice would you give students today?
The liberal arts are only for the more ambitious. It prepares you for the changes in career your generation will inevitably face. If you are not prepared for an international career, you may have no career. The liberal arts prepare you for elite leadership and privilege (only 4% of degrees are in the liberal arts, but their influence far outweighs that), and you are going to be an elite (which means, literally,electi, “chosen”), which means you will have all the responsibilities to humanity that your privilege will entail.