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Giving Form to a Dean's Vision
*First Maguire professor is named
In the spring of 2001, Bob Brennan ’81 and Ed Ludwig ’73 announced a campaign to raise funds to honor Dean Joe Maguire ’58 by establishing an endowed faculty position in Maguire’s name in the education department. Both men talked at the time about the lasting impact Dean Joe had on their lives, professionally, personally and spiritually. Though not teachers, Ludwig and Brennan decided to honor Maguire by making permanent what the dean greatly valued at the College—the department of education. During his career, the dean had been very involved with the survival of the teacher training program and the revival of the department. At the time the campaign was announced, he said he had shared his desire—that the College be able to recruit an outstanding and visionary educator to head the education program—with a few friends, “and I am still stunned to see that this is happening.”
Maguire died in December 2002, and Brennan and Ludwig intensified their effort. The $1.5 million needed to fund the faculty position has now been pledged by more than 250 people. “Joe brought an education program to the College,” Ludwig says. “We want to honor him by fulfilling his vision. I hope the person that assumes the professorship can do as much, both academically and informally, in the next 39 years as Joe did during his 39-year tenure. That would be an extraordinary thing.”