Robert W. Fuller
American physicist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American physicist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Works Fuller (born 1936)[2] is an American physicist, author, social reformer, and former president of Oberlin College.
Robert Fuller | |
|---|---|
| |
| 10th President of Oberlin College | |
| In office 1970[1]–1974 | |
| Preceded by | Robert K. Carr |
| Succeeded by | Emil Danenberg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1936 (age 87–88) |
| Spouse(s) | Claire Sheridan Ann Lachritz |
| Residence | Berkeley, California |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College (undergraduate) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Profession | Physicist, author, known for rankism and dignity theory |
| Website | Robert Works Fuller |
Robert Fuller[3] attended Oberlin College, leaving without graduating in order to earn his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1961. He taught at Columbia University, where he co-authored the book Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics.
The mounting social unrest of the 1960s, and Fuller's commitment to educational reform—which he had already demonstrated as a Trinity College dean—led his alma mater, Oberlin College, in 1970, to make him its tenth president, succeeding Robert K. Carr. At age 33 Fuller became one of the youngest college presidents in the country.
His Oberlin presidency was a turbulent time on campus and in higher education generally. Fuller established a faculty-administration body to consider basic structural change in the curriculum and calendar, as well as a Commission on the Status of Women, tripled the enrollment of minorities, and the college established an African Studies program. He took special interest in the arts, as well. He recruited Herbert Blau to head the Inter-Arts Program, which included the actor Bill Irwin and the director Julie Taymor. He encouraged The Oberlin Dance Collective,[4]
In what has been called the "Oberlin Experiment," he recruited and hired Jack Scott, writer about the sociology of sports, as chairman of the physical education department and athletic director. Scott, in turn, recruited and hired the first four African-American athletic coaches at a predominantly white American college or university, including Tommie Smith, Gold Medalist sprinter from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and a woman for women's sports. Scott and Fuller were interviewed on campus by Howard Cosell and appeared on prime time television to talk about these changes they were seeking.[5]
In 1974, after four years as Oberlin's president, Fuller resigned the office. He was succeeded by Emil C. Danenberg.
In 1971 on a visit to India, Fuller had witnessed the famine caused by war with Pakistan; the war was a catalyst for the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.
With the election in the United States of President Jimmy Carter, Fuller began a campaign to persuade the new leader to end world hunger. In 1977, Fuller co-founded The Hunger Project, along with Werner Erhard and singer John Denver. His June 1977 meeting with Carter in the Oval Office helped lead to the establishment of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger.[6]
During the 1970s and 1980s, Fuller traveled frequently to the Soviet Union, working as a citizen-scientist to improve superpower relations during the Cold War. This led to the creation of the Mo Tzu Project, a group of citizen-diplomats traveling the world seeking citizen to citizen understanding to create sustainable peace.[7] It also resulted in the creation of the nonprofit global corporation Internews,[8] which promoted democracy via free and independent media. Fuller served as its chairman, working with Kim Spencer, David M. Hoffman and Evelyn Messinger (founders of Internews), Alia Johnson, Robert Cabot, and John Steiner, among others. In 1982, Fuller appeared in the PBS documentary Thinking Twice About Nuclear War.[9]
With the collapse of the USSR, Fuller's turn as a citizen-diplomat came to a close. Reflecting on the different roles he had played, he came to understand that he had, at various times, enjoyed the status of a "somebody" while at other times he had embraced the position of a "nobody." His experiences in "Nobodyland" led him to identify rankism—a term he coined, and defined as the abuse of the power inherent in rank.[citation needed]
In 2003, Fuller published Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank (New Society Publishers). The book led a group in Virginia to set up the Dignitarian Foundation. He published a sequel that focused on building a dignitarian society, titled All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (Berrett-Koehler, 2006). In 2008, Fuller and co-author Pamela A. Gerloff released an 86-page "action-oriented guide" titled Dignity for All: How to Create a World Without Rankism.[10]
Fuller frequently speaks at universities, conferences, and social policy organizations. Notable recent[when?] engagements[citation needed] include:
As of 2021, Fuller maintains a blog at the Breaking Ranks website,[18] and he also writes regular articles for The Huffington Post[19] and Psychology Today.[20]
He explores the concepts of dignity and of dignitarian governance in his The Rowan Tree: A Novel (2013).[21] Fuller is a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences.[22]
Fuller lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, Claire Sheridan. He has four children and four grandchildren.
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