Barzun Honored With Great Teacher Award

Centenarian, former Columbia University Provost, and professor of history Jacques Barzun, CC ’27, was honored Wednesday evening with the 59th annual Great Teacher Award. More that 200 people gathered in Low Library to celebrate his accomplishments.

Over the course of his time at Columbia, Barzun taught as Seth Low professor of history and served as dean of the Graduate School, dean of Faculties, and provost.
Beyond the titles he held at Columbia, Barzun influenced many students and colleagues with his ideas about education and his approach to teaching.

A mixture of current and past Columbia faculty and students were in attendance, many of them having studied directly with Barzun. Also present were Barzun’s daughter, Isabel, and Kenneth Jackson, the Jacques Barzun professor in history and the social sciences, who noted Barzun’s refusal to accept many awards over the past years. The Great Teacher award was presented by the Society of Columbia Graduates and Alan Brinkley, provost of the University.

After a brief video summarizing Barzun’s life, speakers reflected on different aspects of Barzun’s time at Columbia.

Columbia College Dean Austin Quigley spoke first, addressing Barzun’s essential role in the creation of the Great Books courses, precursors to today’s Core Curriculum. Quigley acknowledged that though the Second World War affected Barzun, the professor also maintained an idealist outlook. The Great Books courses reflected “a record of what human beings can be at their very best,” he said. In bringing these works to what Quigley called “4,000 of the most energetic, idealistic” young adults, it brought together the best of the past with the best of the present. Even today, Core courses represent a “continuing conversation with Jacques Barzun” and his peers, still demanding that we “create [the] best selves of all of us in the Columbia community.”

Henry Graff, professor emeritus of history, opened his remarks with, “Jacques is the only polymath I have ever known... Jacques is very unusual. He knew everything.” Graff traced his relationship with Barzun over the course of co-writing many editions of The Modern Researcher, and also touched on Barzun’s less celebrated love of baseball. One of Barzun’s many famous quotes, “whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball,” adorns the Hall of Fame, and Graff recently submitted a bat signed by Barzun, which is soon to be included in the collection as well.

Graff concluded by calling Barzun “the Babe Ruth of Humanistic teaching.”

William Theodore De Bary, John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and University Provost Emeritus, commented on Barzun’s special contributions to the University, especially his fight to maintain the School of the Arts in the late ’60s. De Bary commended Barzun as a colleague, citing instances when they exchanged ideas and showed each other work.

Jackson, who holds the professorship named for Barzun, remarked on the incredible length of Barzun’s life and the breadth of his experience, listing events from 1907 until the present Barzun witnessed. Jackson reflected that Barzun has seen history, written history and “made history.”

University Provost Alan Brinkley read Barzun’s short acceptance letter, as Barzun could not attend the event. Barzun jokingly suggested he deserved a “long teacher award” in place of a “Great Teacher Award” and graciously accepted his “unexpected accolade from those I used to teach and who survived the ordeal.”

The reporter of this article can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.