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Brown University to dedicate William A. Dyer Jr. Assistant Professorship
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- On Thursday, Nov. 9, Brown University alumni, friends and parents from the Indianapolis area will join University officials at the Skyline Club to dedicate an endowed chair given by William A. Dyer Jr., the late president of Indianapolis Newspapers Inc. The dedication ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Present at the ceremony will be James Pomerantz, University provost; Theodore R. Boehm, trustee emeritus; Dyer's two sons, William and Allan; and Victor Caston, assistant professor of philosophy, who is the first faculty member to hold the William A. Dyer Jr. Assistant Professorship in the Humanities.
Dyer pledged to establish the chair during the University's Campaign for the Rising Generation. It was his intention to provide support for an assistant professor in the humanities, with a preference for a scholar who specializes in archaeology, Egyptology or ancient studies. "[Bill Dyer's] loyalty was large and his faith in Brown perseveres through the William A. Dyer Jr. Assistant Professorship in the Humanities," said Brown President Vartan Gregorian in a message to Brown alumni. "Bill's partnership with Brown in pushing out the horizons of young men and women will continue for generations."
William Allan Dyer Jr.
William Allan Dyer Jr., a member of the Brown Class of 1924, was born in Providence, R.I., Oct. 23, 1902. He began his career in journalism as a student at Brown, editing The Brown Jug (at which he was succeeded by satirist S. J. Perelman). After graduation, Dyer spent a year as a reporter for the Syracuse (N.Y.) Journal, followed by 16 years with the Syracuse Post-Standard as advertising salesman, then manager, and finally director.
After four years as lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy (1941-44), Dyer settled in Indianapolis, where he started with the Indianapolis Star as vice president and general manager. Four years later, he became vice president of the newly formed Indianapolis Newspapers Inc., publishers of Indiana's two largest daily newspapers, the Indianapolis Star and the Indianapolis News. He was named president in 1975 and kept a full work schedule until his death in Indianapolis on March 26, 1993.
Dyer served Brown as a trustee, secretary and president of the Brown Club of Indiana, and as chief marshal of his 50th reunion. He received an honorary LL.D. from Brown in 1984. Dyer was married to Marian Blumer Dyer, who preceded him in death, and is survived by two sons, William E. Dyer (Brown Class of 1963 ) and Allan H. Dyer.
Victor Miles Caston
Victor Caston is the first faculty member to hold the William A. Dyer Jr. Assistant Professorship in the Humanities. He graduated from Yale University in 1984, later earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986 and 1992 respectively. He will receive his Ph.D. in classics from King's College London next year. Caston joined the Brown faculty in 1991 as an assistant professor. During the 1994-95 academic year, he received a prestigious NEH Fellowship for University Teachers and was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge.
Caston specializes in ancient philosophy, metaphysics and philosophy of the mind. He has two works in progress, one book entitled The Problem of Intentionality in Ancient Greek Philosophy, for Cambridge University Press, and another, a translation of The De anima of Alexander of Aphrodisias, for Duckworth. He has written scholarly articles, reviews and translations and has delivered numerous papers and lectures on Aristotle, Plato and the Stoics.
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