Faculty Profile: Dr. Lawrence Hundersmarck
Joan Bitanga
Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: Feature
by JOAN BITANGA
Featured Reporter
There are professors who make us smarter, and there are those who make us wiser. There are those who teach, and then there are those who inspire. Finally, some of them show us how to make a living, while others show us how to live. The latter phrases describe the teaching methodology of one of Pace's finest professors: Professor Lawrence Hundersmarck.
Dr. Hundersmarck presently serves the Philosophy and Religious Studies department in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences - a department of which he served as the founding chair, and is widely known for his travel course to Rome.
How was your holiday? Oh good. laughs. I did some serious skiing in northern Vermont.
How long have you been skiing? 15 years.
Wow that's really exciting. All right, well let's start with the profession. How long have you been teaching at Pace and what was the first course you taught here? About 28 years. When I was hired, there was a great need to teach World Religions as part of the liberal arts curriculum and so I was the first at the university to teach the study of Religion. And, because I came into the University with graduate degrees in both religion and philosophy, I also taught philosophy. That had an impact in terms of the development of the department, and that department became the University-wide department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
What got you interested in teaching? Was it something that you always wanted to do? I think I was really blessed with excellent teachers and professors. I so admired them. And so, that I think was my basic inspiration to get engaged in teaching. I also find it immensely rewarding.
What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of being a teacher? Well of course it's the students and helping them grow. That's really the whole point. And, I also am very grateful to be teaching a thoroughly interesting discipline; Philosophy and Religious Studies are profoundly engaging. I mean we're talking about some of the best thoughts that have ever been thought. I also work hard with students to help them figure out not so much what to think, but really how to think. And, thirdly, I try to teach students how to intelligently comprehend a text, especially a text of great complexity and significance like the Bible. I'm a very lucky guy. What I teach is always interesting for me and I hope for the students; I have wonderful students, I really do.
Featured Reporter
There are professors who make us smarter, and there are those who make us wiser. There are those who teach, and then there are those who inspire. Finally, some of them show us how to make a living, while others show us how to live. The latter phrases describe the teaching methodology of one of Pace's finest professors: Professor Lawrence Hundersmarck.
Dr. Hundersmarck presently serves the Philosophy and Religious Studies department in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences - a department of which he served as the founding chair, and is widely known for his travel course to Rome.
How was your holiday? Oh good. laughs. I did some serious skiing in northern Vermont.
How long have you been skiing? 15 years.
Wow that's really exciting. All right, well let's start with the profession. How long have you been teaching at Pace and what was the first course you taught here? About 28 years. When I was hired, there was a great need to teach World Religions as part of the liberal arts curriculum and so I was the first at the university to teach the study of Religion. And, because I came into the University with graduate degrees in both religion and philosophy, I also taught philosophy. That had an impact in terms of the development of the department, and that department became the University-wide department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
What got you interested in teaching? Was it something that you always wanted to do? I think I was really blessed with excellent teachers and professors. I so admired them. And so, that I think was my basic inspiration to get engaged in teaching. I also find it immensely rewarding.
What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of being a teacher? Well of course it's the students and helping them grow. That's really the whole point. And, I also am very grateful to be teaching a thoroughly interesting discipline; Philosophy and Religious Studies are profoundly engaging. I mean we're talking about some of the best thoughts that have ever been thought. I also work hard with students to help them figure out not so much what to think, but really how to think. And, thirdly, I try to teach students how to intelligently comprehend a text, especially a text of great complexity and significance like the Bible. I'm a very lucky guy. What I teach is always interesting for me and I hope for the students; I have wonderful students, I really do.
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