Emeriti Ramsey
Keynote Introduction
Communication Senior Reception and Awards Ceremony. Introduction by Ron Smith, Communication Department chair, 9 May 2008
Tonight’s keynote speaker is Dr. Jan Ramsey, a long-time member of the Communication Department who is retiring this year.
Jan joined the department in 1985 as Assistant Professor teaching journalism. Five years later, she was promoted to Associate Professor and six years after that to Full Professor. In 2003 she was named Distinguished Professor, the highest rank within SUNY.
Jan served as chair of the department from 1998 until 2003, when she became Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education and later Dean of University College. Jan has served as chair of the College Senate and numerous other college committees and task forces. She also was assistant to the dean of Arts & Humanities
Jan received a doctorate in English from UB in 1983, with a dissertation on Mediation in Chaucer. At the time, she was teaching at Fredonia State College. She previous had taught in public schools with the Frontier Central District in Hamburg and with the Rochester City School District.
Jan has published scholarly research involving literary journalism and biographies of American magazine journalists. She wrote a textbook in 1994 on Feature and Magazine Article Writing and co-authored MediaWriting which is used in 49 colleges and universities and has been acquired by 533 academic libraries in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Australia, Middle East and Europe.
In 2006 Jan was commencement speaker at the American School of Bangkok through the international Graduate program for Educators here at Buffalo State. She also has been keynote at the Buffalo State Honors Convocation in 2003.
Off campus, Jan has participated in the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the American Press Institute. She was president of the Buffalo International Society of Professional Journalists and co-founder of the Western New York School Press Association. Last year she was keynote speaker at an award presentation ceremony of the Society of Military Engineers.
We’ve asked Dr. Jan Ramsey to give tonight’s keynote address for our graduates.
Keynote Speech
Communication Senior Reception and Awards Ceremony. Keynote by Jan Ramsey, Dean of University College (9 May 2008)
It seems that it is something of a department tradition to ask a faculty member who is retiring to speak at this event—at least, Rik Whitaker was the speaker last year when he retired. And at first blush, it would seem that the speaker and the audience are somewhat at odds: I’m ending my career; you are beginning yours.
And yet, I’d have to tell you that in many ways during these last few months, I have felt more like you than I have for a long time. I have been asking all those questions: what’s the meaning of life? What’s the meaning of MY life? And what am I going to do with the rest of my life?
I’ve been doing a lot of pondering and reflecting, and one measure of being older is that you become absolutely sure that you’re no longer sure of anything at all. But I do have a very few words of wisdom to pass on to you tonight, on change and constancy in your lives to come.
I’m not as a rule a person who enjoys change. I mourn when a shrub dies in my garden. I hate it when a puppy grows up, when a colleague takes a new job, when my friends move away. And because I dislike change and yet have to deal with change fairly frequently, I tend to chant a mantra about it. With a grimace on my face, I go around muttering “change is good, change is good.” To which my husband always replies, “Change isn’t good, Jan; it’s inevitable.” And he’s right, of course. Whether for good or ill, change is something we must deal with.
And so my first piece of advice to you tonight is to learn to accept the inevitability of change, to embrace it. It should be easy. We communicators, after all, are in the business of reporting and announcing and noting all the changes in life around us. So we’re already in the habit of dealing with change. And you young people are accustomed to changes—a series of graduations, part-time jobs, new courses in college every semester.
But then life’s changes get a little harder: do I marry, do I have children, do I settle for this job, do I get over my divorce, do I put my father in a nursing home, and so on. Each change can be difficult, and even more so, if we can’t accept it, can’t see in it some opportunity for good.
I like Obama’s book title, the “audacity of hope.” It is sometimes audacious to have hope, when we look at the mess of the world around us. But the alternative is to be bitter, despairing and resistant. So I encourage you to accept that nothing lasts—but at the same time, nothing is then yet absolutely impossible. Use your energy in pushing forward. And if you can’t exactly embrace change, try to accept it gracefully.
Just as change is inevitable, however, there are constants that are inevitable components of our lives too. Some things remain, while all else changes.
The first constant is you yourself: remember that you are not only always changing, but also remaining the same. Or at least it’s seems to me that at the end of my life I’m returning to many of the things I loved even as a child: I liked to play the piano then, I’m looking forward to playing again now.
Pay attention to the patterns of your life and explore them; if you like to dance, dance. If you like to write, write. Chances are those experiences that were your constant joys early on, will be so again. So make room in your life for them. Find time to do what you’ve always loved to do, or dreamed of doing.
Finding work that is worthwhile is another constant good. I’m not saying that you have to join the Peace Corps. But I am saying, you’ll be happier if you don’t settle for doing something you don’t believe is worth doing—even if your definition of “worth doing” is more unusual than what most people find worthy. Don’t sell out simply for money, and don’t do work that corrupts your soul. If you have to spend a huge part of every waking moment engaged in work, make it something you don’t think you will ever regret doing. Don’t stop looking, until you find work of true value.
The value of people is another constant. When you work, surround yourself with people you like to be with; work in an environment where you can laugh, exchange stories, have some modicum of trust and respect for your co-workers. I’m not saying you’ll ever like or get along with everyone, or that you’ll want to share every intimacy at work. But if you have at least a few folks to share the ups and downs of your day with, it can make all the difference. Certainly, when I look around me, my colleagues are what I will most miss about leaving Buffalo State.
So seek out a positive environment, learn from the people you admire, be loyal to those you respect, offer generosity to your co-workers when possible.
In the end, as we tell every beginning feature writer, people matter to people. Caring for people is a constant need and fulfillment of our lives. You never hear about individuals in their dying moments, calling someone up to say, “Now, about that budget report that’s due….” No, the folks using cell phones on nine-eleven were calling someone to say they loved them. Don’t undervalue the people who are constant in your life. Make room for them and cherish them through all of life’s changes.
Finally, what you’ve learned here is a constant. It may seem like a conglomeration of courses, a plethora of requirements, some of which were meaningful, some not. But it is, in fact, a constant, really two constants: a developed skill and a habit of mind.
You have become communicators, you possess to a greater degree than many, the skill of transmitting ideas and concepts from one person or group to another, through one medium or another. It is no small gift. Appreciate the value of that skill; invest in its growth.
And you have learned a habit of thinking, learned a new way to approach knowledge. You have become used to thinking critically, examining carefully, approaching creatively (or at least, we hope you have). Strangely enough, it is very hard to change this habitual way of thinking, even if you want to. I know that I still instinctively read each newspaper today with values I was taught back in journalism school. I can’t help myself. They became who I am, as what you have learned has become who you are.
Nor will your skill as a communicator desert you, even as the media changes to something we might not recognize. You can get out-of-date of course, but if you’ve mastered language and images, if you’ve learned to listen, to discover, to explain, your talent won’t leave.
Education is, after all, a wonderful paradox. It somehow provides a constant, yet with opportunities for change as you expand your horizons. An educated person remains an educated person, but always retains the capacity for further education. Perhaps,
as the French say: the more things change, the more they stay the same—and conversely, the more things are the same, the more they can change.
Change and constancy; they are inevitable components of your life. I encourage you to be aware of them and balance them effectively, and as much as possible, embrace and appreciate them to enrich your work and your leisure hours.
Farewell To Jan Ramsey
Retirement Ceremony for Jan Ramsey. Speech by Communication Chair Ron Smith (13 May 2008)
Last week I had the pleasure of introducing Jan as the keynote speaker for our Communication Department graduation reception and awards ceremony. This was an event that she began when she was chair of the department before she was unceremoniously swept away from us.
Because my introduction recited Jan’s many accomplishments, it was rather long-winded, and I didn’t have a chance to comment along the way. I appreciate that opportunity tonight.
Jan joined what was then the Department of Journalism, Broadcasting and Speech in 1985. When I came along five years later, she was already a force to be reckoned with. Not yet tenured, but already a senior member of the department from my perspective. I was blessed because she took me under her wing and helped me learn how to be a college professor.
She herself was the excellent role model. She helped me make sense of the still-difficult task of fairly assessing student performance and assigning just grades.
But I remember most the personal things she taught me – How to be a responsible faculty member and still maintain family obligations to my kindergarten and grade school sons.
I also learned from Janet that good teaching doesn’t have to be sacrificed because of expectations of faculty scholarship. Jan’s CV is full of papers and presentations and workshops that she completed while teaching a full range of courses (4 a semester in those days) that were always current, continually challenging, and yet which also earned high praise from her students.
In particular, I was inspired by Jan’s commitment to writing a textbook. Her book on feature and magazine writing because a standard used by many colleges and universities around the country.
The one criticism I have of Jan – and I’ve shared this with her several times – is that she made everything look so easy. She wrote a textbook without missing a beat, so I figured I could do the same. When she was department chair she made things run smoothly, so when I became chair I presumed that things would be just as smooth. Not so much.
Jan had proven her ability as our leader, and we deferred to her guidance, but she failed to remind me that leadership takes time to cultivate. Yes, Jan, we deferred to your guidance. You may have different recollections, but the collective memory of the department was that you were the best. You set the goals that we all have tired to follow. When you left us, we wished you well of course, though we knew there would be a void. But it was nice knowing that you were just a building away, four little digits on the phone system.
Now you are going further away. But we know where you live, and the phone number is still only seven digits. And even when you go to England or Tuscany, we can track you down via e-mail. I predict that we all will find many opportunities to tap you for advice and guidance.
In an interview with the college’s web Bulletin, Jan hints of life coming full circle. She is a scholar of Chaucer, and she notes that Chaucer illuminated his stories by writing with detail, just like today’s journalists do. So in preparation for these farewell comments, I reviewed Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, because I know Jan draws inspiration from this. No, I didn’t read it; I just looked at my wife’s teaching notes.
I tried to figure out who among Chaucer’s pilgrims most reminded me of Jan. I found three archetypes for Jan. It could be the Parson, the one honorable and selfless person in the entire crew. Maybe the Clerk, the poor scholar who prefers ideas to riches (seems appropriate for a SUNY employee). Or maybe Jan’s archetype is the Host and innkeeper, who encourages the pilgrims to tell their stories, like Jan and other journalists.
So Jan, we all wish you well. You mentioned last week to our graduates that change is inevitable. You envisioned yourself returning to some pleasures you’ve had to set aside – reading Chaucer, playing the piano, tending your gardens. As you draw the circle back to its beginnings, we wish you the best that life has to offer, for a very long time.