T. R. YOUNG UNSOLICITED COMMENTS AND EVALUATIONS About CURRENT RESEARCH AND RECENT TEACHING EXPERIENCES UNSOLICITED COMMENTS ABOUT RESEARCH Dear T.R. "....just this week I received from Joshua Weiss a copy of THICK DESCRIPTIONS OF THIN ONTOLOGIES. You have done it again with this article. I could not put it down and read and reread it a number of times. There were so many sentences I marked with a yellow marker, that the entire article is now yellow. Well done!! This is a beautiful short article which deserves to be read by so many. ...." Letter from a colleague in Israel who writes about management science and the new sciences of complexity...dated 16 Jan., 1994 "Your work is, I think, superior to anything I have read in this area during my own search for understanding & I look forward very much to having more from you. ...Letter from a graduate student in legal studies in Sidney, Australia, dated 14 December, 1993 "I must compliment your achievement with this paper, it is exceptional. After having gained some familiarity with the topic of chaos theory in researching for the project, my subsequent and more attentive reading of the essay [on the Archeology of Human Knowledge] brought a greater sense of appreciation for its content, as well as its aesthetic." ...Letter from a graduate student in sociology at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, dated 18 July, 1993 "You are simply the best teacher I've seen in a classroom." Personal communication from a colleague who, himself has been awarded several prizes for excellence in teaching by national, regional and university Committees. November, 1993 'Thank you for the material [on postmodern sociology of religion]; it was helpful! Letter from a student who used some of my work for her Senior Thesis at Vassar, dated 4 Dec., 1993 "Thank you very much for taking your time to write such a wonderful reference for me. ...You seem quite determined to make me struggle to live up to [the high career standards and expectations you set up there] for the rest of my life in order to maintain your integrity." Letter from a graduate Ph.D. student and former teaching assistant with me, dated 16 Nov., 1993. 'I have just read your thoughtful and fascinating article, 'The Drama of Social Enquiry: Politically Correct Knowledge." in The Wisconsin Sociologist. Vol. 30 November 1, 1993. '...Your paragraphs describing the shift from pre-modern to modern knowledge processes and from 'sacred' to secular [are] brilliant." Letter from a Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Business and Sociology, University of Chicago, dated 5 November, 1993 "I have written another paper about chaos theory and sociology. I would like to ask you for your opinion of it." Letter from a graduate student in Architecture in Berlin, dated 29 October, 1993 "After reading your work [on nonlinear social dynamics], I am trying to make theoretical links between Chaos and public policy [on women and minorities]..." Letter from a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, dated 15 October, 1993 "Thank you [for the articles on Postmodernity; they were...] very helpful! I had not consider to include Peter Manning and Dragon Milovanovi‡ before...The Brief History of Stephen Pfohl [past President of the Society for Social Problems and leading proponent of postmodern criminology in the USA] was very interesting to me. It helped me understand the intention and mission of his work more clearly." Letter from graduate student in criminology in Hamburg, Germany, dated August, 1993 "...your papers [on nonlinear social dynamics] are a significant contribution to the beginning of a new approach to psychology and the life sciences." "...it is your ideas which will be instrumental in bringing this new paradigm into existence." Letter from an editor of a book presenting articles from the Proceedings of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology, dated 29 August, 1993 COMMENTS ABOUT TEACHING FROM STUDENTS "I must say you have left an empty spot in the sociology department. I found myself wanting to stop by and say "Hello" when I was on the 6th floor. Molly...was very saddened when she learned you were not returning to campus. She, as all of us, only wish we had known so we could have all said, "Thank you." ...From a four page letter from my all-time favorite student at Virginia Tech telling me of her present courses, dated 26 August, 1993. "I also enjoyed reading excerpts for your journal. It sounds like you had a good year at V.T. Your students must really miss you. I know that I felt fortunate to have you my last year at TWU. You really did challenge us!" ...Letter from a former student at Texas Woman's University dated August 15, 1993 "Firstly I want to thank you very much for your quick reply and for the papers!! I am a student of criminology at Hamburg University, and I want to write a thesis on postmodern criminology. ...I want to focus especially on your and Stephen Pfohl's work.' ...letter from a graduate student in Hamburg, dated 27 July, 1993 " ...I'm still definitely on for working with [TGFCLC] next year...' 'I'd like to work with the Corps Cadet [learning circle] and the Engineering Science group as well as the Minority group...I [should like to direct the television episodes of] Captain Science if they are [still] available." ....Letter from an undergrad V.T. minority student, cadet and engineering major, dated July, 1993 "I'm...writing you to thank you for being such a cool professor to me last semester. It almost made me want to switch my major from political science to sociology. I also want to thank you for giving me such a high recommendation to the sociology department for the purpose of me becoming a Teachers Assistant [with the second iteration of TGFCLC]. ...Letter from a bright young Black man in my Strat class at V.T., dated July, 1993 "I looked in the mirror and what'd I see: A self composed of I and Me, We're each a Self, apparently, Made up of an I and Me, I lose my temper, 'throw a fit' Let myself act up a bit: (ouch, Dammit!) Without a doubt it's I you see in acts of spontaneity. Acts considered carefully reveal the part of us called Me, Stop and think of what will be, anticipate reality. Behavior formed accordingly occurs when I become a Me. Self is forming continuously forever changing randomly, within its structure we can see the pattern of our destiny, Truly, Life's a mystery 'til we perceive a Self composed of I and Me! ...Poem composed by a student from my undergraduate class in postmodern social psychology...sent long after the class had ended. "...it brought tears to my eyes, to think of the sociology department without T. R.--after all, you were the teacher who opened my eyes to a whole different world...of sociology. You were the one who helped me and advised me when I wanted to change my major [to sociology] but was still unsure--and most importantly, you were a friend and a confidant. I hope you will decide to keep in touch with me. ...Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you this past year." ...Letter from an undergrad student upon learning that I would not return to V.T. the coming year, dated 11 July, 1993