The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2003 - 3C Prof. Ralph By Ricky Lax Daily Arts Writer Ralph Williams has been teaching religion and literature courses at the University for years. His presence in the classroom is one of a kind as he has entertained countless students all the while teaching them the likes of Dante, Shakespeare and the Bible. The Michigan Daily caught up with Williams to ask him what makes him so unique. The Michigan Daily: Congratulations on win- ning Best Professor. Ralph Williams: I am genuinely and deeply hon- ored, and will do my very best to try to deserve it. I love every hair on my students' heads, and am wholly in love with the materials I teach: My life is hugely privileged in those ways. TMD: When did you know you wanted to be a college professor? RW: Do you know I've always enjoyed the study of literature, but that existed in a larger network of interests. In many ways, coming to be a college teacher was something that simply happened. There are probably six or eight lives that I'd have enjoyed living. I'd have enjoyed being a doctor. Loved to have been a lawyer. Well, in college, I applied to graduate school and Michigan's English department came up with something marvelous called a fellowship, which paved my way to study more. While doing that, I discovered that one of the chief things that one did was become a teacher. TMD: Academic freedom is very important to you. Have you ever been deprived of it? RW: No. And I would leave the profession immediately if I were. It's enormously important to me. One needs to hear the views of all with whom one has to do intellectually and otherwise, as they wish to express it. TMD: Is anything off limits in your classes? RW: Yes, there is. Abuse of other speakers. The views of other are open to inspection from all quar- ters, but there will be human respect within the classroom for those who are present. TMD: Are any topics off limit? RW: In general, no - but, pragmatically, there is a restraint that I place on myself. It's my under- standing, my commitment, that I, in the sense of commitments or antagonisms to commitments, am not the point of my Bible class. The point of the class is the material that draws us together and the discourse, as it is constructed by you, by me, by all of those there. Off limits for me in the classroom is the sort of expression of points of view, which intend to produce commitment to my own views. Williams exposes it all Journal ranks business school 2nd best in world TMD: What do you think makes you such a pop- ular professor? RW: I'd like it to be the fact that in my presence, students are received with respect, with human affection, their intelligence; nourished, drawn out, drawn on, their ability to receive and to challenge; extended, and their sheer joy in their human being and abilities; enhanced. TMD: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one work of literature with you, what would you choose? RW: Well let me say then Shakespeare because the works show the pressure of the Bible and then Shakespeare's own work foliates out into the works of almost all others in the Western tradition and in many others as well. I choose him because his works themselves are more extensively and deeply human than virtually anything I know. TMD: Have you ever written a book? RW: Yes. The book, which emerged from my doctoral dissertation, is one on a neo-Latin poetics. It drew together for me, at that point, various forms of learning and touched on a number of interesting issues about tradition. My best writings are the ones ahead. There is one in formation on Primo Levi on whom I teach a course. There is one, which deals with the ways in which the Bible has worked through world cultures. There is one called Five Florentine Chapels. TMD: Where is a good place to get dinner in Ann Arbor? RW: I'm homesick for Italy so much. I'll go to this Italian restaurant on the other edge of town. I'm Canadian born, but I just fell head over heals for Italy. You're born in a certain place and in a certain sense that's home, but then if you are for- tunate in life, you get to chose a home of the spir- it. For me -that place is Italy. There is a bend in the railroad when I come up from Rome. When I pass it, I am home. TMD: So much is made of your commanding hands, there must be some metaphor there, what would it be? RW: I've heard people comment on my hands. I've heard people comment on and question my style. In a certain sense, my hands are a given. I can't help my looks. I'm given my hands. If I were to move toward a metaphor, I suppose I'd want it to be reach and grasp, a reaching out toward, a wish to grasp. But what you see in me is not premeditated style, what you see is my body thinking. TMD: How much free time do you have every day? RW: This may be a self-criticism: I don't think I By Shabina S. Khatri Daily News Editor Corporate recruiters ranked the University's Business School number two in the world overall and number one for recruiting minority talent, according to the Wall Street Journal's annual rankings of business schools, released today. More than 2,200 recruiters rated the top 50 business schools on 26 attrib- utes, including students' leadership potential and ability to work in teams, past success in hiring top-quality graduates, the faculty and the career- services office. Business School Dean Robert Dolan said the past year's challenges, including the economic. downturn and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, gave the ranking an especially valuable meaning. "We're obviously happy to find our students are so highly sought after. Ranks aren't everything, but it's one ele- ment of the reputation of the school that will really help people know what we're all about;' he said. The University rose from its previ- ous No. 4 ranking to beat out last year's second and third favorites, Carnegie Mellon University's Gradu- ate School of Industrial Administra- tion and Yale University's School of Management, respectively. Kristina Nebel, the Business School's Director of Admissions, said the Univer- sity also ranked better than the "usual suspects such as Wharton (School of Business at the University of Pennsylva- nia) and Harvard (Business School)," which placed in this year's top ten. "Even though the number one spot went to Tuck (School of Business at Dartmouth) again, we're pleased to have been able to close the gap by making the results a lot closer this year," she said. Business junior Matt Ellish said the ranking only confirmed his beliefs about the Business School. "I knew coming into it that it was high- ly ranked. I think it's good to know that, but that doesn't mean you can just expect to lay back and get a good job;'he said. But the University's rise from its previous Wall Street Journal rating came as a surprise to many people because of the past year's decline in recruiting efforts. Jan Malas, assistant director of the Business School's Office of Career Development, said the results were unexpected but could be explained by the Business School's wide-rang- ing emphases. "Because our B-School teaches more general management, we're not known for one area like accounting or finance. So we were able to reach a broad base of companies through our manufactur- ing and services sector," she said. "When one sector goes down the other goes up, so we did very well compared to other schools." One feature unique to this year's results is that the Wall Street Journal highlighted specific schools for their racial diversity. David Wooten, the director of the Business School's Minority Affairs, said the school's number one ranking for recruiting minority talent is due to sev- eral factors, including the University's historical commitment to diversity and the efforts of people who preceded him. "Unofficially we've been acknowl- edged as a leader in diversity for some time, but it's nice for a respectable pub- lication like the Wall Street Journal to make diversity a criteria and to single out folks that are doing well in that area," he said. Wooten, who took over when the posi- tion was made official two years ago, said the Wall Street Journal derived the results by counting under-represented minorities in the United States such as blacks, His- panics and Native Americans, as well as international students and women. Nearly 30 percent of the incoming MBA class, he said, are women and more than 30 per- cent of the class are international stu- dents. Racial minority students make up 10-11 percent, he said. Ralph Williams, a professor famous on campus for his entertaining Shakespeare and religion classes. understand free time. I'm 61 and there's necessarily limited time and I have limited abilities and I am going to get every second out of that time and every bit out of those abilities that I can before time ends for me. So I open my eyes between four and five in the morning and I get up and I start going and I usually stop between 11 and 12 at night. I'm not good at the concept of leisure. TMD: After you leave she University, how do you wish to be remembered? RW: There's a line of Dante which I'd like as indicated that by which I'd like to be remembered, if I ever earned it, I'd like it as an epitaph: "Intellectu- al light, full of love." TMD: Thank you, Prof. Williams. RW: No, thank you. It is a joy to talk with you. The Michigan Daily University Program LJ Lvent& / v11Q f t Page STUDENTS WITH CROHN'S DISEASE OR ULCERATIVE COLITIS Please join Dr. Ellen Zimmerman Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, U of M for an informal discussion of topics including: " NUTRITION * NEW THERAPIES " LATEST RESEARCH Next Meeting is planned for September 18th, 2003 at 7 p.m. Location TBA. Please call or e-mail for more information (734) 763-7278 ibd.group@umich.edu Lawn abut nergy conservation efforts on campus and bow you can belpl Enermy Frst2003 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN TUE SDA Y SEPTEMBER 16 1:00 A.M. -2:00 P.M. . I. " ^C We offer courses suited to Geology majors and non-majors in one of the most picturesque locations in North America. On the Hoback River about 20 miles south of Jackson, Wyoming, Camp Davis is situated between the Grand Tetons to the north, the Gros Ventre Range to the east and the Basin and Range Province to the west. This location provides an unmatched introduction I- ro 14 1 9 1