Winter 2000

Bennett Cites Influence of a Great Teacher, Dean Percy Burns

Samford graduate J. Claude Bennett '54 encouraged seniors to place a high priority on education by being "lifelong learners," citing the influence the late Dean Percy Burns had on him during undergraduate days.

Bennett sought Burns' advice on attending Harvard Medical School, where he had been accepted, after his graduation from Samford.

"He said to me, 'there's something about doctoring that not everybody perceives. It is a long and arduous educational path, but it does imbue one with compassion, reason and most of all, a lasting respect for the gift of life.'

"He suggested that helping people becomes the true goal."

Bennett told the graduates he still remembered something Burns said in an introductory lecture on Shakespeare.

He quoted Burns' description of Shakespeare: "He was an uneducated man from a small village who became not only the greatest playwright of his time, but of all time. He, more than anyone else, gave the English language its dominant place in world history."

Bennett added, "Isn't it extraordinary how truly great teachers in very ordinary situations can say things that you remember for years afterward?"

The speaker also urged the 304 graduates to "be open to new directions." Bennett's own career illustrates that point. He has been a basic scientist, teacher of clinical medicine, university administrator (as president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham) and now, head of a for-profit corporation, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.