Letters

Thanks to Dean Burgett

I read with great interest the well-deserved article about Paul Burgett ’68E, ’76E (PhD) (January-February), who was dean of students at the Eastman School of Music while I was an undergrad.

Undergrads need an anchor, someone on the premises who they can go to for academic, personal, and professional advice. Paul Burgett is an extraordinary individual who knows no limits. No one was ever considered out of bounds and anyone could go to him for advice, as I did.

Additionally, at my audition at Eastman, 33 years ago in February, Dean Burgett took time to talk at length to my father, who, to this day, remembers being deeply impressed by him. Paul Burgett is a very rare person who makes everyone around him better by his mere existence. This is not an exaggeration, it is pure truth.

Every student and colleague who ever conversed with Paul was simply the better for the experience, as all of us are.

A very belated thank you, Dr. Burgett, for all of your wisdom, compassion, kindness, humor, and generosity.

May the universe bestow upon you the same goodness you have shared with us over the years.

Ava Estis Liss ’86E

San Diego

Thank you for the wonderful article on Dean Paul Burgett. While I never took one of his classes, my peers all spoke very admiringly of him, and I always enjoyed running into him on campus. Your article brought tears to my eyes. We are lucky to have this man as part of our University community.

Marina Isaacson ’12

Washington, D.C.

What was barely a blip in the vast expanse of Paul’s life was a major focal point for me. During his short stint as director of the Hochstein School, he took a chance and hired a brazenly determined, yet honestly inexperienced, teenager to teach dance in his summer program. I fabricated some of my prior experiences (he probably knew this), but did a convincingly energetic job for two consecutive summers.

Thanks, Paul, for your confidence. I went on to teach at Boston University, the Yale School of Drama, New England Conservatory of Music, perform my own choreography at Jacob’s Pillow, and found the Dance Complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Without his first vote of faith, and the real experience I gained, I might have never. . . . But I did, and I am forever thankful to a great man.

Rozann Kraus ’72

Cambridge, Massachusetts

The writer is the resident choreographer for the Central Square Theater.

Thanks to the Ferraris

The article about the Ferrari Symposia (“Ferrari Symposia Host Celebrated Humanist,” January-February) should have used the space devoted to the picture of Professor [Stephen] Greenblatt’s wonderful book (I’ve read it and recommend it heartily) to mentioning the generosity of my classmate, University Trustee Bernard Ferrari ’70, ’74M (MD), and his lovely wife, Linda Gaddis Ferrari, in establishing and endowing this program.

His and his wife’s contributions and support should have received a little more recognition than they were given.

Daniel Fink ’74M (MD)

Beverly Hills, California

No Thanks to Snow

I appreciated your article on snow days (Ask the Archivist, January-February). I, of course, remember the 1966 blizzard when I was a graduate student in the medical school’s Department of Radiation Biology. I had quite a time getting to campus that week from the northern part of the city. I walked many blocks to Lake Avenue, where I was able to get a ride from my then mother-in-law who was an administrative assistant in the Dean of Student’s Office.

Another storm that you didn’t mention when the campus was closed was, I believe, either 1958 or ’59 when I was an undergraduate. I managed to get from Penfield to campus and found a place to park, but drifts going from the men’s dorms to the library were up to my waist and higher. I got to the library only to be told that all classes were canceled.

John Parker ’61, ’68M (PhD)

Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Department of Corrections

A listing for the book, The Anxiety Code: Deciphering the Purposes of Neurotic Anxiety, by Roger Di Pietro ’04M (Pdc), in January-February’s Books and Recordings should have identified the author as a doctor of clinical psychology.

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