WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800 align:middle line:84% Well, good evening, everybody and thanks 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:02.967 align:middle line:90% for the introduction, Tyler. 00:00:02.967 --> 00:00:04.920 align:middle line:90% And truly welcome to you all. 00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:06.810 align:middle line:90% This is a very exciting evening. 00:00:06.810 --> 00:00:10.500 align:middle line:84% And I'm going to start off by telling a brief story, which 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:14.490 align:middle line:90% is that I got to meet Alberto-- 00:00:14.490 --> 00:00:17.340 align:middle line:84% I guess Tito, if you don't mind me calling you that-- 00:00:17.340 --> 00:00:20.130 align:middle line:84% at lunchtime today and then promptly dissed him 00:00:20.130 --> 00:00:21.990 align:middle line:84% by missing every remark he had to make 00:00:21.990 --> 00:00:24.270 align:middle line:84% because I had a crucial administrative meeting I 00:00:24.270 --> 00:00:26.170 align:middle line:90% had to go to. 00:00:26.170 --> 00:00:28.942 align:middle line:84% And so I told him I couldn't wait for this evening 00:00:28.942 --> 00:00:30.150 align:middle line:90% and that is the honest truth. 00:00:30.150 --> 00:00:32.040 align:middle line:84% I think this is going to be just fascinating. 00:00:32.040 --> 00:00:34.220 align:middle line:84% And in that vein I'm not going to hog the podium 00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:35.220 align:middle line:90% any more than I have to. 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:36.595 align:middle line:84% But it's just a couple of remarks 00:00:36.595 --> 00:00:40.360 align:middle line:84% I want to make in relation to this evening. 00:00:40.360 --> 00:00:44.010 align:middle line:84% First of all, to all of you, to the U of A folks here, 00:00:44.010 --> 00:00:46.590 align:middle line:84% to the community folks here, welcome, welcome, 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:49.290 align:middle line:84% welcome to the University of Arizona, and welcome to one 00:00:49.290 --> 00:00:50.640 align:middle line:90% of our gems. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.400 align:middle line:84% This is one of those places on campus 00:00:53.400 --> 00:00:56.790 align:middle line:84% we just burst with pride about, and with good reason. 00:00:56.790 --> 00:00:58.950 align:middle line:84% The whole campus understands that this 00:00:58.950 --> 00:01:01.920 align:middle line:84% is something very special here and it's just always 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.519 align:middle line:84% a delight to come over here and experience it for myself. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:10.200 align:middle line:84% the-- just the feel of walking in those volumes over there. 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:14.730 align:middle line:84% The feel of interacting here with artists is-- 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:16.960 align:middle line:84% it's part of what makes the University alive. 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:21.030 align:middle line:84% So welcome all of you to this very exciting place. 00:01:21.030 --> 00:01:23.500 align:middle line:84% I wanted to acknowledge a couple of folks who are here. 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:26.160 align:middle line:84% I know representative Steve Farley was here. 00:01:26.160 --> 00:01:29.580 align:middle line:84% I believe he had to leave early but he made some remarks 00:01:29.580 --> 00:01:31.660 align:middle line:84% just before we started to a small group. 00:01:31.660 --> 00:01:35.790 align:middle line:84% And I want to really provide sincere thanks from all of us 00:01:35.790 --> 00:01:40.620 align:middle line:84% here to him and his colleagues in the legislature who 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:43.920 align:middle line:84% were able to not only help-- as we heard, help increase 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:47.160 align:middle line:84% funding for the Arts this year but also initiated this Poet 00:01:47.160 --> 00:01:50.530 align:middle line:84% Laureate position, and we thank them all for doing that. 00:01:50.530 --> 00:01:54.540 align:middle line:84% I also want to recognize President emeritus John 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:56.460 align:middle line:90% Schaefer sitting over here. 00:01:56.460 --> 00:01:59.715 align:middle line:84% And not least, and maybe more importantly 00:01:59.715 --> 00:02:04.260 align:middle line:84% at this particular place, Helen Schaefer 00:02:04.260 --> 00:02:08.669 align:middle line:84% to whom we are ever grateful for having 00:02:08.669 --> 00:02:12.240 align:middle line:84% your name and your support grace this wonderful place. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:13.708 align:middle line:90% Deep, deep, thanks. 00:02:13.708 --> 00:02:15.000 align:middle line:90% We really appreciate it, Helen. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:22.340 align:middle line:90% 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:25.170 align:middle line:84% So now onto the man at the moment. 00:02:25.170 --> 00:02:30.140 align:middle line:84% And what I would I'd like to do is just brag a little. 00:02:30.140 --> 00:02:35.410 align:middle line:90% So Tito is a-- 00:02:35.410 --> 00:02:36.330 align:middle line:90% I'll gender this. 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:38.205 align:middle line:84% I was going to try to be politically correct, 00:02:38.205 --> 00:02:43.680 align:middle line:84% but he's a son of the U of A several times over. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.510 align:middle line:84% And as an undergraduate student and as a graduate student. 00:02:46.510 --> 00:02:49.680 align:middle line:84% And I thought I should just run down 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.460 align:middle line:84% that because I am the provost and remind you 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:56.220 align:middle line:84% that he does come with some serious cred 00:02:56.220 --> 00:02:58.230 align:middle line:84% not just because he can write but because he's 00:02:58.230 --> 00:03:01.290 align:middle line:84% got the pieces of paper to show he can write. 00:03:01.290 --> 00:03:05.700 align:middle line:84% He actually earned three degrees from the UA. 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:07.260 align:middle line:84% In fact, I believe John's signature 00:03:07.260 --> 00:03:10.150 align:middle line:84% is going to be on at least one or two of them. 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:15.870 align:middle line:84% He earned his BA in literature and creative writing in 1974, 00:03:15.870 --> 00:03:18.720 align:middle line:84% a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1975, 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:21.150 align:middle line:84% and a master's degree in creative writing in 1979. 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:22.725 align:middle line:90% That might be all three. 00:03:22.725 --> 00:03:24.600 align:middle line:84% Yeah, those are probably worth something now. 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:26.460 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:33.050 align:middle line:84% He also holds the Katherine Turner Endowed Chair in English 00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:37.590 align:middle line:84% at that marvelous sister school of ours up the road and-- 00:03:37.590 --> 00:03:38.430 align:middle line:90% no, at ASU. 00:03:38.430 --> 00:03:41.940 align:middle line:84% And we do-- we have a friendly rivalry but at times like this 00:03:41.940 --> 00:03:44.790 align:middle line:84% we are really sister schools and we're delighted that A, 00:03:44.790 --> 00:03:48.330 align:middle line:84% you are in Arizona and B, that you can be just 00:03:48.330 --> 00:03:51.340 align:middle line:84% a little chink of red and blue in the sea of mustard and rust 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:51.840 align:middle line:90% up there. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.210 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:54.210 --> 00:03:56.590 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:56.590 --> 00:03:57.840 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:01.620 align:middle line:84% So anyway he is a Regents Professor 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:03.768 align:middle line:84% and he's taught there for the past 30 years. 00:04:03.768 --> 00:04:05.310 align:middle line:84% And I just want you to know for those 00:04:05.310 --> 00:04:07.020 align:middle line:84% who don't understand what a Regents Professor is, 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:09.900 align:middle line:84% it's clearly a big fancy thing but you may not just how fancy. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:12.270 align:middle line:84% Just the top few percent of professors 00:04:12.270 --> 00:04:15.090 align:middle line:90% are eligible for this honor. 00:04:15.090 --> 00:04:16.230 align:middle line:90% In fact, there's a maximum. 00:04:16.230 --> 00:04:20.847 align:middle line:84% So they either go to leave or depart by other means 00:04:20.847 --> 00:04:22.680 align:middle line:84% before we admit and a new Regents professor. 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:26.580 align:middle line:84% So it's a very rarified group, and there's really just 00:04:26.580 --> 00:04:28.290 align:middle line:90% a few dozen at each University. 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:31.770 align:middle line:84% And it is the highest honor academically 00:04:31.770 --> 00:04:34.290 align:middle line:84% that we have at the universities in Arizona 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:38.850 align:middle line:84% and it's a sure sign of his prominence 00:04:38.850 --> 00:04:42.750 align:middle line:84% that he's a Regents Professor at ASU. 00:04:42.750 --> 00:04:45.450 align:middle line:84% Finally, I just like to comment on-- 00:04:45.450 --> 00:04:48.210 align:middle line:84% as someone who is about as far from poetry and creative 00:04:48.210 --> 00:04:50.460 align:middle line:84% writing as you can possibly imagine. 00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:53.250 align:middle line:84% In my other life I am an environmental scientist. 00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:55.680 align:middle line:90% Although I do-- as was noted-- 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:00.390 align:middle line:84% I do like to be seen as a friend of the Arts 00:05:00.390 --> 00:05:01.800 align:middle line:90% and I try to be one. 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:04.560 align:middle line:84% But I'd like to-- from that perspective, 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:08.580 align:middle line:84% from someone who is not from the inside community 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:11.820 align:middle line:84% let you all know just how important this place is 00:05:11.820 --> 00:05:12.720 align:middle line:90% to the University. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.610 align:middle line:84% How important the Arts, the humanities 00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:17.630 align:middle line:90% are to the University. 00:05:17.630 --> 00:05:20.610 align:middle line:84% Mary Wildner-Bassett and I have a number 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:22.590 align:middle line:84% of meetings where we talk earnestly 00:05:22.590 --> 00:05:28.230 align:middle line:84% about the humanities and their importance to the University, 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:31.890 align:middle line:84% to the Academy, in fact, to society. 00:05:31.890 --> 00:05:34.830 align:middle line:84% And even recently, in fact, it was just a week ago 00:05:34.830 --> 00:05:36.535 align:middle line:90% I think we had just-- 00:05:36.535 --> 00:05:38.160 align:middle line:84% we had a late afternoon Friday meeting. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:41.403 align:middle line:84% And we ran for almost two hours because it was 00:05:41.403 --> 00:05:42.570 align:middle line:90% the last meeting of the day. 00:05:42.570 --> 00:05:45.960 align:middle line:84% Just getting very excited, I think, 00:05:45.960 --> 00:05:49.610 align:middle line:84% about what the potential is for the humanities. 00:05:49.610 --> 00:05:52.980 align:middle line:90% 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:55.170 align:middle line:84% What goes on in the humanities when 00:05:55.170 --> 00:05:58.500 align:middle line:84% we look at all the dimensions of the humanities 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:02.070 align:middle line:84% really have a number of-- has a number of common threads. 00:06:02.070 --> 00:06:03.900 align:middle line:84% If you think of the arts as creative, 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:06.930 align:middle line:84% and certainly poetry has one leg very firmly planted 00:06:06.930 --> 00:06:09.720 align:middle line:84% in that community, and you think of the humanities, 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:13.920 align:middle line:84% perhaps typecast them slightly, as really looking at languages 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.140 align:middle line:84% and literatures and cultures associated 00:06:16.140 --> 00:06:19.230 align:middle line:84% with some of that creativity, and it's 00:06:19.230 --> 00:06:20.670 align:middle line:90% this marvelous interplay. 00:06:20.670 --> 00:06:24.210 align:middle line:84% The value that the humanities are 00:06:24.210 --> 00:06:26.400 align:middle line:84% able to put in this-- the meaning, 00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:30.150 align:middle line:84% to you use a term of art in humanities I think, 00:06:30.150 --> 00:06:32.480 align:middle line:90% is absolutely key. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.170 align:middle line:84% You can't imagine what a place like Tucson 00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:41.670 align:middle line:84% would be like if we didn't have words, 00:06:41.670 --> 00:06:46.980 align:middle line:84% and the richness of culture, and art. 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:53.820 align:middle line:84% It would be a faceless, nameless, really bland, 00:06:53.820 --> 00:06:57.450 align:middle line:84% bleak kind of place in the literal and figurative sense 00:06:57.450 --> 00:06:58.170 align:middle line:90% of that. 00:06:58.170 --> 00:06:59.640 align:middle line:90% And it is rich. 00:06:59.640 --> 00:07:03.090 align:middle line:90% It is a delight to live here. 00:07:03.090 --> 00:07:06.120 align:middle line:84% It is meaningful to be in a place 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:08.190 align:middle line:84% like this where this sort of thing 00:07:08.190 --> 00:07:12.840 align:middle line:84% is valued precisely because of what either you all do 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:14.880 align:middle line:84% or what you all support who are here. 00:07:14.880 --> 00:07:17.520 align:middle line:84% And I can't underline that enough that the University 00:07:17.520 --> 00:07:18.720 align:middle line:90% recognizes this. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.250 align:middle line:84% And really, while we may sometimes be seen as a place 00:07:23.250 --> 00:07:28.090 align:middle line:84% that a lot of science gets done, and we are, that we truly, 00:07:28.090 --> 00:07:31.410 align:middle line:84% truly can't do that without doing this. 00:07:31.410 --> 00:07:33.490 align:middle line:84% It is really part of the package. 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:39.900 align:middle line:84% So I want you all to know that the place of poetry, 00:07:39.900 --> 00:07:44.460 align:middle line:84% the place of writing, of language, of culture, 00:07:44.460 --> 00:07:47.820 align:middle line:84% of meaning is absolutely central to everything 00:07:47.820 --> 00:07:49.230 align:middle line:90% we do at the University. 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:52.260 align:middle line:84% In fact, what we do when we change lives 00:07:52.260 --> 00:07:55.035 align:middle line:84% through teaching, when we change society 00:07:55.035 --> 00:07:56.160 align:middle line:90% by understanding it better. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:58.830 align:middle line:84% When we change our understanding of the world-- 00:07:58.830 --> 00:08:01.650 align:middle line:84% that meaning we add is rooted in the kinds of work 00:08:01.650 --> 00:08:06.750 align:middle line:84% that people like you all here do and I can't say enough 00:08:06.750 --> 00:08:10.050 align:middle line:84% how much we all respect that and how much the University values 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:10.660 align:middle line:90% it. 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:13.830 align:middle line:84% So with that comment, I would love 00:08:13.830 --> 00:08:16.170 align:middle line:84% to pass the podium on to the next speaker 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:21.120 align:middle line:84% and have you all wait with bated breath for Tito's words later. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:22.980 align:middle line:90% I can't wait myself. 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:24.780 align:middle line:84% Thank you, and welcome, and congratulations 00:08:24.780 --> 00:08:27.120 align:middle line:84% on being the inaugural Poet Laureate. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:28.970 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]