John Sullivan, Elon's Distinguished University Professor, shared his perspectives on the future of universities during the 31st Ferris E. Reynolds Memorial Lecture Tuesday, Feb. 21. The lecture marked Sullivan's last formal presentation before his retirement in May.
Reynolds taught philosophy at Elon from 1946 to 1976. Sullivan established this lecture series in Reynolds’ honor along with friends and former students.
>>Download a copy of John Sullivan’s lecture in PDF format
>>Download a copy of an essay by John Sullivan from the Winter 2006 Magazine of Elon
Sullivan examined three different ideas of what a university should be, from the earliest days of human history to current ideas on the topic. Sullivan concluded his remarks by offering his thoughts on what a trans-modern university might look like, one that attempts to address the ecological crisis facing the world today.
Using John Henry Newman’s 1859 lectures titled, “The Idea of a University,” and Jaroslav Pelikan’s 1992 book, “The Idea of the University: A Reexamination,” Sullivan discussed how the goals and aims of universities have shifted over the course of time. Newman “believed that undergraduate education…should take as its province-at least in principle-all knowledge,” Sullivan said.
Newman also believed “in a division of labor between teaching and research,” Sullivan said. Newman saw universities as a place where teaching was the primary function, believing research was best handled by special academies. “So Newman here sounds a cautionary note,” Sullivan said. “Perhaps teaching and research often do pull against each other. Time with students can be seen as stealing time from research.”
Newman’s view of a university is different from the modern university examined by Pelikan, where research and publication sometimes overshadow teaching. Sullivan also pointed out that “the modern university is more open and inclusive than ever the medieval university imagined. Women and minorities are welcomed; diversity is sought.”
Education today is aimed more towards practical uses than it was in Newman’s day, where knowledge for its own sake was valued. Sullivan said this has positives and negatives.
“There is, I think a gain in focusing on first hand experience and drawing a closer link between knowledge and community betterment,” Sullivan said. “Yet the balance is delicate and tips easily into individual success. Vocational and professional training become of central value. You are majoring in what? How will you earn a living with that?”
Sullivan concluded his remarks with ideas about the future of universities and the role they can play in addressing important ecological issues. Sullivan said “the university of the future will see itself as a community standing at a crucial point in world history and called to choose life—sustainable life for the entire web of life.”
Sullivan said universities of the future will empahsize group learning. “Thus arises the seed of a new form of learning-the class as the agent of learning. A true learning community rather than a set of individual learners in one place. For all our talk, education remains remarkably individualistic at classroom or department levels.”
Such collaborative learning will spawn new forms of collaboration “among students, between students and faculty, and between we humans and all the creatures-in-wider-nature that dwell with us in this place,” Sullivan said. “Engaged learning in a dynamic community, innovation with a clear sense of how we best contribute to a sustainable world, honoring the ancestors and serving the children-is this not a direction for this university?”
Sullivan will retire in May following a 36-year career at Elon. He is a past recipient of the Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching and has served as chair of Elon’s Carnegie Committee on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.