William Theodore de Bary
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 William Theodore de Bary CC '41 MA '48 PhD '53, LittD (HC) '94 (1919 - ) is an East Asian studies expert. He is the John Mitchell Mason Professor, Provost Emeritus of the University, and Special Service Professor in the East Asian Language and Culture Department. A longstanding Columbian, he has played a significant role in the 20th century history of the university.
[edit] EducationDe Bary is a Columbia alumnus many times over. He earned his AB from Columbia College in 1941, his MA in 1948 after returning from World War II, and his PhD in 1953. He was awarded a LittD (Honoris Causa) in 1994, when he finally turned in the "minor revisions" he was asked to make to his 1953 doctoral dissertation. De Bary also briefly studied at Harvard before the breakout of the war. In addition, he holds honorary degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and St. Lawrence University. [edit] CareerWhen World War II began, de Bary ended his studies at Harvard and served in American military intelligence in the Pacific Theatre. De Bary began teaching at Columbia in 1953, after completing his dissertation. Later, de Bary was active in faculty intervention during the 1968 protests and turned down the Deanship of Columbia College to serve as the university's Provost from 1971 to 1978. In the De Bary Report of the 1980s, he advocated the reshaping of the College's Core Curriculum to include "Great Books" classes devoted to non-Western civilizations. A recognized educator, he won Columbia's Great Teacher Award in 1969, its Lionel Trilling Book Award in 1983 and its Mark Van Doren Award for Great Teaching in 1987. He is also a recipient of the John Jay Award for distinguished alumni, which he won in 1989. De Bary refused to accept appointment as a University Professor in 1978, as he did not want it to seem like a backroom deal had been struck. Instead, he accepted the just-created John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, a post created specifically for former Provosts. He retired in 1990, but still teaches up to five courses per semester on a pro bono basis. Usually these courses include an introduction to major topics in East Asian civilization, an intermediate literature course in Chinese humanities, an intermediate literature course in Japanese humanities, a graduate-level survey of either Chinese or Japanese philosophy (alternating each year), and the Columbia College senior colloquia Nobility and Civility. The 2006-2007 academic year marked de Bary's 70th year as a Columbian (he entered in 1937), his 54th year on the faculty, and his 17th year of de jure retirement. He is additionally famous for rarely missing a Columbia football game since he began teaching at the university. [edit] WorksDe Bary has edited numerous books of original source material relating to East Asian (primarily Japanese and Chinese) literature, history, and culture, as well as making the case, in his book Nobility and Civility, for the universality of Asian values. He is recognized as essentially creating the field of Neo-Confucian studies. [edit] Photos
[edit] Major Works
(Source: Library of Congress Online Catalog) [edit] External links
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