Interviewee: Robert Lewis

Interviewer: Gus Nolan, Kieran Runne

Interview Date: June 6, 2002; November 16, 2010

Summary:  The following interview occurs with Dr. Robert Paul Lewis, former English professor and Chair of the English Department at Marist College. The interview begins with a brief background of Dr. Robert Lewis’s educational years, including his college years at Manhattan College where he majored in English. Dr. Robert Paul Lewis describes his transition to teaching at Marist College upon hearing about the school at a Master’s seminar at Columbia University. Dr. Robert Lewis speaks of his teaching career as well as his various other responsibilities at the college such as his being a floor proctor, the Cross Country team coach and also his participation on the Admissions Committee, Academic Affairs Committee, and Library Committee. He also describes his participation as a theses mentor for the Science of Man program initiated by Xavier Ryan. Dr. Robert Lewis also compares the leaderships of the two college Presidents during his time at Marist College, President Linus Foy and Dennis Murray. The interview ends with what he hopes will continue to be the future mission of the college. In the second interview, Robert Lewis talks about how he arrived at Marist College, the social and political climate on the campus at the time and the demographics of the Marist College students in the Sixties. He also reflects on the changes made to the curriculum, the courses, and the learning outcomes for students in 2010, comparing it over the decades since the sixties. Robert Lewis finally reflects on the difference in leadership between the two different administrations on campus, Presidents Linus Foy’s and Dennis Murray’s.