Dad retired from DePauw University this year after
52 years! He was honored at the annual Faculty Recognition
Dinner, and was given a send-off by co-worker and friend Dr. Dan
Shannon
(see video directly below, takes a minute to load).
The notes from the program are below!
Robert D. Newton Jr. joined the faculty in 1956 as instructor in
the Department of Philosophy and Religion. He was promoted to
assistant professor in 1958, associate professor in 1962 and
professor in 1969. He received a B.A. degree in mathematics from
Yale University in 1950, M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in
1953 and Ph.D. from Columbia University (Department of Religion) and
Union Theological Seminary in 1960. The department later reorganized
to become a Department of Philosophy and a Department of Religious
Studies. Despite his training in theology, he chose to become a
member of the new Department of Philosophy.
His teaching has included (under a variety of course titles)
introduction to philosophy, historical and modern Western religious
thought, philosophy of religion, Christian ethics, biomedical
ethics, ethics and education, seminars in topics, movements, major
classical and modern Christian thinkers, philosophical problems,
problem of God, ethics and the professions. He recently taught "God,
Evil, and the Meaning of Life." Recent Winter Term courses included
"Controversial Bioethical Issues" and "Saying It With Photos: Your
Photographic Essay."
His administrative and service record is long and impressive, and
includes 17 and one-half years of service as department chair. He
has served multi-year terms on the Committee on Faculty, Committee
on Administration, Experimentation on Human Subjects Committee and
later the Institutional Review Board for Research on Human Subjects,
Lesser Sanctions Committee, International Education Committee, and
Educational Policy Committee. Long active and committed to the
Writing Program, he served as associate faculty development
coordinator of the Writing Program for 18 years and as a member of
the Writing Program Placement and Monitoring Committee (renamed the
Writing Program Coordinating Committee) for 19 years. He led or
co-led 11 annual writing workshops. He has been a member of the
American Association of University Professors since 1958, serving
three terms as president and three terms as vice president of the
local chapter.
Long an expert in matters of faculty governance and AAUP
policies, he became known as "Dr. Handbook" for his more than
passing knowledge of the arcane passages of the faculty bylaws and
their exegesis. His passion for equity and fairness in matters of
policy, which remains clear to this day, was exhibited early in his
career when as an untenured faculty member in the early 1960s he
provided sustenance for the "Broken Arrows," members of the Pi Phi
sorority who were expelled by their national officers (or resigned
in solidarity with their expelled leaders) for conducting votes of
the membership leading to support for welcoming as a guest resident
an African-American exchange student from Bennett College.
He has written book reviews, numerous articles, book chapters,
presentations and papers, and two books: Where
Becoming Begins (Faith in Life Series, Board of Education
of the United Methodist Church, 1972), and Parents
Guidebook V-VI (Board of Education of the United
Methodist Church, 1970) which he co-authored with his wife, Ann K.
Newton.
He received the Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Tucker Distinguished
Career Award in 1989 and has been the inaugural holder of the Blair
and Martha Rieth Professorship of Applied Ethics since 1992.
Newton retires having served as a member of the faculty for 52
years. We are confident that he selected his retirement date knowing
that he had served the requisite number of years to be the
longest-serving faculty member in the 171-year history of DePauw.
