Professor to be speaker at the first-time Fall Commencement ceremony
More changes than the construction of a new library or the erection (and felling) of a Christmas tree on the Quad are taking place on Utah State University’s campus.
For the first time in the history of Utah State University there will be a Fall Commencement ceremony.
And, typically speakers come from outside the university, but this year the featured speaker is an insider.
Mark Damen, an associate professor of history and theater was selected from among a list of outstanding professors on campus to address both undergraduate and graduate students at the joint fall ceremony on Dec. 18.
“I wanted someone special for the Fall Commencement who understood what graduation means – personally for our students. Dr. Damen knows what our students have come through as only someone from within the ranks can know,” President Kermit L. Hall said. “I wanted the Fall Commencement to have a different flavor than the spring graduation ceremony, so I decided to look within the institution for a person who could capture the essence of students’ experiences and who also could send them forth with a message of merit.”
“My flavor … I never really thought about myself as butterscotch, more tangy, but sweet. Perhaps key lime,” Damen said in response to Hall’s statement.
“I think they choose me because I’ll know a number of the students. I’ll know the types of experiences they’ve had, and that is what I’ll speak about. The speech isn’t about me, it’s about them,” he said.
Mark Damen was born in Europe, but spent 20 years of his life in Gainsville, Fla., where he attended second grade through college. He did his graduate work in Texas.
Damen taught for three years in Bloomington, Ind., before he and his wife, Frances Kitchener, came to work at USU. The couple came partly because of USU’s spouse retention program, but more importantly they welcomed the opportunity to build a base for a Classics program, he said.
Although Damen and his wife make up 2 of the three professors in this particular program they have very little to do with one another on campus.
“We could never team teach, oh no, that would lead to divorce,” Damen said. “In fact we rarely see each other during the day. One of us is always in a class. We’d probably see each other more often if we were working different jobs.”
Damen says he has always liked historical studies, but one of the main reasons why he pursued a career in history is because the line at registration for Latin class was short, whereas the line for chemistry was long. Damen is fascinated with antiquity and the fact that it answers questions that can’t be answered about human civilization today.
“Modern history is an oxymoron as far as I’m considered,” Damen said. “I think about things in millennia. I like news to be really old. If it’s not rotting I’m not attracted to it.”
Damen has received several awards, including Carnegie Foundation’s CASE Teacher of the Year award in 1998 and has twice been named a Utah State Mortar Board Outstanding Professor. Damen teaches a wide range of courses at USU, including the Ancient Near East, pre-modern Western Civilization, Theatre History, Playwriting and all levels of Latin and Greek language.
“Dr. Damen, as anyone who knows him can attest, is someone who definitely will keep the attention of the crowd,” said Sydney Peterson, assistant provost and chair of the Commencement committee. “But more important than just his entertaining style, he also is someone who is deeply passionate about learning and education. He will summarize their years here and entertain them, but he will leave them with a profound message too.”
Damen compares graduation to the opening of a door to the real world. He said It is a time when you look both ways – an interior period of reflection and an exterior period of expectation.
“You are walking into something, but you are also walking out of something. Graduation is a merging of self into the real world. It is just as important to know where you are going as well as who you are,” Damen said.
For his speech, he said he going to speak about what he knows – and that’s USU.
“Often graduation speakers speak about themselves and the ‘outside world’ because that is what they know. They don’t know the students. I wouldn’t pretend to speak about that. I live and work at Utah State,” Damen said.
His said his speech will focus on where the student’s have been as well as try to help them reflect upon their experiences at USU.
“I think long term, I hope that what I say at graduation will resonate and continue to resonate making graduation become a watershed moment in people’s lives,” Damen said.
-amcconkie@cc.usu.edu