January 19, 2001

Dedicated professor receives top honor

On Monday, January 8, 2001, University President Bernard P. Knoth, S.J., presented this year's Dux Academicus award to Gary Herbert, Ph. D., professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences. Knoth noted Herbert's commitment and service to the three criteria the award demands: "excellence in teaching, superiority of scholarship, and outstanding general contribution to the university and/or the community at large."

Responding to the award, Herbert reinforced the twofold approach universities should take toward education. "It must impart to its students the training, skills, and general knowledge vital to their becoming successful, fully functioning members of society. But, at the same time, it must provide an education which liberates students from the restrictive ideological authority of the ideas and principles embedded in that training." Combining these ideas, Herbert believes, is "the only way that the wisdom of the past can serve successfully as a benchmark forrather than as an obstacle toour pursuing the ideals of the future."

Herbert is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, The American University, and Wesleyan University. He has served on many committees since he began teaching at Loyola in 1972, including the College Rank and Tenure Committee, Academic Affairs Budget Committee, Finance Committee of the University Board of Trustees, and the Salary Scales Subcommittee.

The areas of philosophy that Herbert specializes in cover a gamult of thinking, such as political philosophy, metaphysics, the history of philosophy, German idealism, and the philosophical history of rights. International attention has been focused on Herbert for his contributions to the literature of philosophy. Work he has done on Hobbes, in particular, has been praised as one of the most impressive in Hobbes scholarship. He has also published books and articles on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, John Locke, and Johann Fichte

The faculty was not the only group honoring Herbert. Students also praised Herbert's teaching ability. Comments such as "by far one of the best professors I have had the privilege to have been taught by at Loyola," and that he is "not just a great thinker and brilliant professor [but] also a kind and giving person" were written by former students. One student went so far as to sit in the hall while between classes (if there was no pressing need to do homework) just to listen in on Herbert's lectures. And Herbert reciprocates devotion to his students through his twofold philosophy of education. "Loyola has affirmed this twofold function, I believe, with patience and dedication in its Goal Statements, in its curriculum, and in its overall regard for the education of its students," notes Herbert.

While presenting the Dux Academicus award to Herbert, Knoth noted that, " while it is enough to have professors who combine full dedication to both teaching and scholarship, those who include service to the university and its many committees and to the local community are truly worthy of recognition." In the 28 years Herbert has been teaching at Loyola, he, as Knoth acknowledges, "epitomizes" the qualities that have earned him this award.

—Michael Rerick, A'02