Humility and Wisdom

“As I reflect upon the past 41 years as chair of the Miami Alumni Representative Committee, I can say unequivocally that no dean of Columbia College has made a greater impact upon my life than Dean Valentini. His openness, friendliness and accessibility are just a few of the things I will always remember and cherish.

“I have two favorite memories of Deantini. The first is his answer to a question I posed after a leadership conference meeting. When the College first created the Core Curriculum course, Frontiers of Science, the challenge was said to be to not make the course too technical, but also to not make it just a superficial ‘history of science’ course. At the conference, Deantini said he was working on changes to the course, and I asked what changes were contemplated. “His answer was brilliant. He said he didn’t exactly know what the changes would be, but he planned to assemble in one room professors from all the sciences — biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, earth science, statistics — in order to determine the intersection of what all of these scientists, regardless of their fields, knew. ‘And that’s what we’re going to teach,’ he said.

“My other great memory of Deantini is his asking senior chemistry students what course has been most impactful to them during their time at Columbia. Half expecting them to choose his course (perhaps hoping for a good recommendation), he asked them to pick one of the Core courses. He said he realized that ‘you can learn chemistry from a book.’ But what you can never duplicate is the experience of 20 or so students from diverse backgrounds discussing the great works of Western (primarily) civilization with a brilliant professor. This irreplaceable experience is the essence of a Columbia College education. I have told this story over the years to encourage admitted students to choose Columbia.

“So, thank you, Deantini, for your friendship, your humility and your wisdom. I know I speak for so many when I say how much I appreciate you.”