Yervant Terzian, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences and chair of the Department of Astronomy, was presented with a doctor of science degree at Founders Day ceremonies at Union College, Schenectady, Feb. 25. The award was Terzian's fourth honorary degree.
"In a variety of ways, from your teaching to your leadership of the Pew Science Education Program, you have been an untiring advocate of science education," said Roger H. Hull, president of Union College, in conferring the degree.
On June 30 Terzian will be stepping down after 20 years as department chair and also will be relinquishing his post as director of the Pew program's New York State Cluster of Colleges and Universities. On Sunday, he was honored at a farewell dinner at the Cornell Club in Manhattan by the board of the New York Pew organization.
Terzian has been Pew director since the cluster of seven colleges was formed in 1988. With his departure, the cluster is being reformed into a self-financing group to be called the New York Science Education Program.
In addition to Cornell, the other members of the New York Pew program are Barnard College, Colgate University, Hamilton College, Manhattan College, St. Lawrence University and Union College. Under Terzian's leadership, the program has funneled $3.25 million to the member colleges for the improvement of science education. Most of these funds came from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Commenting on this success, Thomas Werner, the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Sciences at Union College, noted at the convocation that "if we turn to 'Star Wars' for an analogy, which seems appropriate given our speaker's field, our considerable success as a cluster is due simply to the fact that the force, i.e. Yervant, was with us."
Terzian, who was being introduced as Founders Day speaker, told his audience, "The most important asset for the 21st century, at any level, will be knowledge. Prosperity and a safe future depend on an educated public, and today no one is educated who is ignorant in science and technology."
The convocation was in observance of the 204th anniversary of the granting of the college charter, the first to be granted by the New York Board of Regents. The previous evening Terzian also was busy, this time giving the keynote talk at the first-light ceremony for Union College's new F.W. Olin Center Observatory. The 20-inch parabolic mirror telescope will be used mainly for education.
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