I attempt to lead my students on a journey of the mind. Some days are good; some days are not so good. But every day I remind myself that teaching is like missionary work, and that I am the messenger, not the message. I constantly strive to bring others to see the excitement, as well as the limits, offered by the life of the mind. I encourage all students to be bold in their thoughts, moderate in their actions, and courageous in their pursuit of truth—wherever it is and however it can be known.
Dr. Lence’s career was marked by his commitment to the transformative effect of undergraduate education. He brought with him each and every day a profound energy and intense interest in books and young people. His mode of interaction was conversational, his style provocative, and his dedication to students relentless. He evoked from them an eagerness to work at their highest level, and he challenged colleagues to put aside old habits and conventional ways of looking at things.
Each academic year, The Lence Master Teacher Residency Program invites a “master teacher” to The Honors College at the University of Houston to engage with students, faculty, alumni, and friends of The Honors College. This conference-like engagement spans the course of a week and features lectures for Honors College courses; workshops with faculty, students, and alumni on key texts in the Western intellectual tradition; informal small group discussions; lunches, receptions, and other social engagements. In particular, the Residency will provide a venue for an annual reunion of dedicated students and friends of Professor Ross Lence.
Reminiscent of the “writer-in-residence” model, the Lence Master Teacher Residency program invites a scholar to the University and the City to share the intellectual and personal characteristics of Professor Ross M. Lence, the man in whose memory this series is created.
2010 Ross M. Lence Master Teacher: James Shapiro
No stranger to the University or the City, Jim Shapiro first came to the University Honors Program 24 years ago to lecture on King Lear in "The Human Situation" course. Since that first encounter, he has been a frequent visitor and vocal supporter of the College—its mission, curriculum, students, and teachers. He particularly admired Ross Lence.
A Chicago alumnus and master teacher himself, Professor Shapiro is featured in Great Books, David Denby's respected and readable book about his "adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and other indestructible writers of the western world." Denby, the film critic for The New Yorker, describes Shapiro's teaching style as "gently badgering" and sees in it "a rough kind of therapy" as the teacher "plays students off one another, not always answering their questions but asking new questions himself." Compared to a cluster of master teachers observed by Denby, Shapiro emerges as "the Coach"; his demeanor in the classroom, "combative gaiety."
Professor Shapiro is the author of influential and prize-winning monographs, most recently 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, a book that won the Theatre Book Prize as well as the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for the best nonfiction book published in the United Kingdom in 2005. He will be on an international book tour this spring, promoting Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare, on which he will draw for his Lence Lecture. His current project is entitled "1606: The Year of Lear." Professor Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University.
Please join The Honors College and Professor Shapiro for the Residency events, listed at right.
To make a contribution to The Honors College or for additional information, contact Shannon Parrish at 713.743.9973 or at sparrish@uh.edu.