It is an honor for me to pay my final respects to Bruce Unger, both personally and
on behalf of a grateful college community. Bruce embodied so many admirable traits:
Devoted husband and father, stellar teacher, nationally-known scholar, mentor to
generations of appreciative students, loyal colleague and good, decent man. He enriched
our campus by his presence and was a model for all of us on how to conduct our lives
with purpose and dignity.
Bruce Unger was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, earning a bachelor’s degree
in political science from Queens College in Brooklyn in 1964 and a masters and Ph.D.
degree in political science from Tulane University in 1973. He started teaching
at Randolph-Macon in the fall of 1968.
Our feelings for Bruce are perhaps best articulated by the more than forty of his
former students who shared their views about him on our web site’s Bruce Unger Memory
Form. Clearly, he left lasting impressions on students’ lives and the laudatory
comments, even from those who struggled in his challenging classes, confirmed his
legacy on our campus.
For example, Robert Rankin, Class of ’71, wrote: “I remember Bruce when he started
teaching at R-MC. He was kind of exotic as a child of Brooklyn, with a thick accent
seldom heard in Ashland in those days. He had a warm, easy humor, and enjoyed bantering
with us. But more central to him was an endearing earnestness, rising from his passion
to share his knowledge and, hopefully, light a spark in us…[and] he lit one on me.
He was a great teacher. He exemplified the essence of R-MC at its best.”
Duane S. Duncan, Class of ’84, wrote: “For those he taught, he made us better students.
For those he mentored, he made us better people. His humor and wit never disappointed
anyone lucky enough to take one of his classes… I can see him now with the unlit
cigarette standing before his Political Theory class, sitting in his “tidy” office
across from his classroom, or watching a basketball game over at Crenshaw. His passion
for teaching brought out the best in each of us.”
Amy Thorne Richardson, Class of ’95, wrote: “My father… graduated in 1970 and also
had Dr. Unger. I will never forget taking my last trip down before I made my decision
to enroll at R-MC. I met with Dr. Unger and explained who I was and that my father
had been a student. He laughed, and now that I am older I guess he was probably
thinking, am I that old to start seeing the kids of my first students? He opened
up a drawer in his desk and pulled out some books. He flipped through and found
my dad’s name and his grades (and secretly shared them with me) and we had a laugh.
I always thought that was so special, and it was the defining moment when I knew
R-MC was the right place for me.”
Frank Clements, Class of 2003, wrote: “I also recall a conversation towards the
end of my internship on Capitol Hill for J. Randy Forbes, Class of ’74. [who, by
the way, took the time to attend Bruce’s funeral last month] As we walked towards
the Capitol steps, so I could get the customary picture with the Congressman, he
spoke very highly of Dr. Unger. Specifically, that Bruce considered all sides of
an argument, and not just those that he agreed with. I could not have agreed more.
In a time where there is much talk about bias in the classroom, it was and still
is refreshing to know that after taking a course with Dr. Unger, one could surely
remark – “What bias?,” as it was apparent that Bruce’s goal in teaching was just
that – to teach, and then let the students decide.”
And, finally, Jack Enoch, class of ’71, current trustee of the College, and true
Bruce Unger admirer, said it best: “His example is our Mission.”
It is such a pleasure for us to memorialize Bruce by establishing the Bruce M. Unger
Award for Retiring Faculty. Bruce had planned to retire this year after what would
have been his 40th year of service. It is therefore fitting that an award
recognizing the contributions of retiring faculty be named in his honor. Starting
in May, retiring faculty with 10 or more years of service will sit on stage at Commencement
and be recognized with a certificate and monetary award. It is an appropriate honor
both for our retirees and for the legacy and contributions of this larger than life
man.
Bruce wore many hats during his 40 years with the College – Interim Dean of the
College, Department Chair, Charles J. Potts Professor, Arms Control Advisor to the
United Methodist Board, prolific Committee Chair and Member, Scholarship Interviewer,
Strategic Planning Contributor, resident expert on all varieties of international
and not-so-international cuisine, ferocious rebounder on the faculty basketball
team, “old time” -- and I mean old time rock and roll disc jockey and defender,
patient historian to the legacy of the Brooklyn Dodgers, not to mention his formidable
on-going vocation as teacher-scholar.
Indeed, he received every significant teaching and faculty award given at R-MC,
and he also received also received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State
Council of Higher Education in Virginia and the Exemplary Teaching Award from the
United Methodist Church.
Outside the classroom, Bruce was a recognized scholar throughout the world. In 1992
he participated in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro; he also attended conferences
in Moscow, Belarus, Japan and South Africa. Several of his articles were published
nationally and internationally in newspapers, magazines and electronic journals.
In 1990, Bruce served as on-air T.V. analyst during the Washington Summit between
George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. As you know, Bruce loved to travel with
his dear wife, Arlene, at his side, and he would return to regale his friends with
stories about what he learned – especially about the native cuisine.
I especially valued his counsel as Faculty Representative to the President’s Cabinet,
where he told it like it was – beating around the bush was not Bruce’s forte. In
talking with my predecessor, Rusty Martin, who travelled down from New York to be
here this afternoon, I know he felt the same way: Bruce forced us to question assumptions,
to deviate from the familiar path and always, always, to make decisions
with the best interests of our students…and sometimes our faculty and staff…in mind.
Our Board of Trustees valued him for the same reasons – for his straight talk and
heart-felt reasoned opinions. You might be uncomfortable with what he had to say,
but you listened anyway.
I must say, on a personal note, that Bruce meant a great deal to me. I admired his
passionate loyalty to the College, the insightful counsel he would often give me,
his irreverent humor and most of all, his unyielding desire to do the right thing
– regardless of the expedient option or conventional wisdom. I valued him as a friend
as much as I did a colleague and feel blessed to have known him.
I have said before that Bruce Unger exemplified the best of what Randolph-Macon
can be and personified the finest attributes of the title -- “Professor.”
Perhaps my biggest regret is that I only got to know Bruce for a relatively short
time. And his last several months were hard…especially for his loving family, and
our hearts and deepest admiration go out to Arlene, and to his daughter Ashley,
both of whom are here today, and to his son, Erik and daughter-in-law, Michelle,
who traveled often from Wisconsin to be with him. And yet these last several months
were a blessing as well. Bruce looked forward to his forays back to the campus,
and I would often see faculty, staff and students alike…bunching around him and
wishing him well. In turn, he would say “very good” or “wonderful, wonderful” or
“you are good” -- meaning, he loved you. What a blessing for him and for us -- to
be able to share those sentiments so freely and so often in those last months.
And while I knew him for only a short time, I took comfort in the story that one
of his former students, David Meyer, Class of 1974, shared with me at the reception
following Bruce’s funeral. He indicated that he was a student very early in Bruce’s
tenure here…and indeed, he recalled one week when Bruce, without explanation, canceled
his Tuesday class. Dave and his classmates learned while Bruce was away that day
that he had gone back to Tulane to defend his doctoral dissertation. And on Wednesday,
either Howard Davis or Earl Koonz, his two colleagues in political science had taken
the call from Bruce in which he indicated he had in fact passed his defense. That
word was quietly passed on to Dave Meyer, and when Prof. Unger arrived at his classroom
on Thursday morning, he was greeted by a standing ovation…by a group of students
who knew already that they were in the presence of a great man.
I get chills whenever I think of that story -- for what it says about Bruce, for
what it says about our students at Randolph-Macon, and mostly for what it says about
the kind of connections we all make here. Connections such that even when we leave
this place, we cannot help but leave it a little bit better. And in Bruce’s case,
he left this place, this College that he loved and so ably served, a lot, lot better…and
he left all of us a lot better…and for that we shall be eternally grateful.