Emeritus Citation
Citation on the occasion of being named an emeritus professor
at Williams College in 2005:
Few people havev shaped an academic department to the degree that you have
shaped yours. A love of mathematics, logic, and linguistics, combined with
an addiction for gizmos of all kinds, fuiled your migration from
mathematics to the emerging field of computer science. You conceived our
Computer Science department, appointed all its members, led it as chair,
and inspired it through your own example as a highly respected teacher, a
researcher supported by the National Science Foundation, and a citizen of
the broader College whose unofficial role as an articulate and principled
gadfly to successive administrations has resulted in positive change
throught Williams. Your students have gone on to become faculty at the
finest Computer Science departments in the country. you have helped to
lead national discussions of curricular development that have shaped course
offerings throughout higher education. It's no wonder that the field's
main professional association gave you its highest award for "Outstanding
Contributions to Computer Science Education," since in a way you are the
father of not just one department but many.
I hereby declare you Frederick Latimer Wells Professor of Computer Science,
Emeritus, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining
thereto.