Commencement weekend: Farewell to students and to Prof. Perry
When I arrived at Fletcher this morning, I was greeted by a crowd of students eating breakfast before one of the few official events of this week leading up to graduation. Now they’re receiving instructions outside, with further details on Sunday’s sequence of events.
Last week and this, I’ve tried to catch up with students to say goodbye. On Sunday, I’ll see a few more, and I hope I’ll meet some family members. It is a little sad that students with whom I had frequent contact, or who may just have been out there adding to the buzz, will no longer be part of my daily life. But that’s how it’s supposed to happen, and they’re going on to great things.
Meanwhile, there’s another very significant goodbye in front of us. John Curtis Perry, Henry Willard Denison Professor of Japanese Diplomacy, who has taught at Fletcher since 1980, will be delivering a farewell lecture to mark his formal retirement. Early in my Fletcher career, my office was right near Prof. Perry’s, giving me a chance to get to know him and chat often. I don’t see him as much these days, but we did exchange emails after students labeled him “legendarily awesome” last fall.
In anticipation of Prof. Perry’s lecture this afternoon, a first-year student, Jack, wrote a letter to honor him. Jack wrote:
The Fletcher School stands unique among graduate programs because of its maritime studies program. Prof. John Curtis Perry is largely responsible for this program’s success and its mission to reawaken our awareness of oceanic nations’ connection — social, economic, and cultural — to the sea. On the eve of Prof. Perry’s retirement, I wanted to offer a short reflection and thank you.
As a member of the Fletcher faculty, Prof. Perry united students in his maritime courses for thirty five years. Recognizing Prof. Perry’s scholarship and contributions to Japanese-American relations, the Japanese government awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasure. His insistence on quality made all of his lectures shine like his eyes, with brilliant intensity.
In addition to his exceptional kindness, Prof. Perry has long personified the pursuit of wisdom. By bringing our class out of the classroom, he reminded us of the wider world beyond Fletcher. We took excursions to the granite piers of New Gloucester, the Boston MFA’s maritime collection, and even to the private library in his own home. One thing I’ve learned from Prof. Perry is that the mind must be exposed to the elements.
Such learning is an active thing, requiring the energy that Prof. Perry embodies, bounding down Fletcher’s staircases, wearing blazing red Nikes with academic regalia, and occasionally injecting profanity to keep lectures interesting!
While Prof. Perry may be retiring, his students have now become teachers. Both Prof. Toshi Yoshihara and Prof. Rocky Weitz carry on the oceanic tradition at Fletcher in their distinct ways.
It has been an honor to have joined the ranks of Prof. Perry’s maritime students. From one pupil amidst a sea of students, friends, and colleagues, thank you Prof. Perry for your ideas, wit, and example. Fair winds and following seas!