Bill Swanson
Liberal Arts Statement
It was early spring 1973 that I first met with Dr. John Pelton,
Chair of the Botany Department. Snow was still on the
ground. Buds still quiet. But excitement was in the
air. As a rather focused young man just beginning to think
about my college career and life, in a haphazard way that John
would come to tolerate, I came to his office. The reason for
my visit was one of discovery, guided by the question: would Butler
University, and more specifically the Botany Department and faculty
be willing to accept me? I was nervous but tried to hide that
with youthful assertiveness. John saw right through me. Yet
his patience, skill and experience made me feel at ease with my
first official visit to campus. By the end of our short first
meeting I knew the answer to my question. Little did I
realize how important that answer and my subsequent decision to
join the ranks of new students in the class of 1978 would be to me
and my future.
In the four short years of undergraduate training in liberal
arts and sciences at Butler, the faculty put forth an unimaginable
buffet of life choices before me and said it was my responsibility
to select the course best suited for my success. Little did
they realize that I had never been able to just select a few good
morsels. The staff and faculty of the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences valiantly guided me through the choices
and supported me as though I was the only student enrolled.
How do you put a dollar value on this, perhaps priceless!
It is hard to imagine that after 34 years I still practice all
the skills learned at Butler. Robert Fulghum wrote that "all
I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" maybe true.
I would add that all I use today started with the people
at Butler University.