Ruel Willoughby Tyson, Jr.
I. Personal Information
Born: Winterville Township, Pitt County, North Carolina, December 2, 1930.
Married: Martha Jane Croxton, 1955; two sons,
David Erich (10/13/56)
and Ruel Michael Haywood (12/8/61)
Addresses: Office: CB# 3225, Saunders Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3225
Telephone: (919) 962-5666
Office: Institute for the Arts and Humanities
CB# 3322 West House
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599-3322
Telephone: (919) 962-6831
E-mail Tyson@email.unc.edu
FAX (919) 962-1118
Office: The Carolina Seminars
6001 Davis Library
Telephone:(919) 962-2501
CB 5120 Davis Library
FAX (919) 962-2502
II. Professional Employment
Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1988--
Director, Institute for the Arts and Humanities,
College of Arts and Sciences,
1988--
Director, Carolina Seminars, 1991-1997 (Founding Director)
[Associate Professor, Department of
Religion,
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, 1975--1988;
Appointed permanent member, The
Graduate Faculty, 1975;
Assistant Professor, 1967-1975; granted permanent tenure, 1973;
Visiting Lecturer, UNC School of Medicine,
summer terms, 1971-1972;]
Visiting Professor, The Graduate School of Theology,
The University of the South, Summer term, 1967;
Associate Professor on the Crump Chair of Philosophical
Theology, The Episcopal Theological Seminary of the
South, Austin, Texas, 1966-67; and earlier at same institution:
Associate Professor, 1964-66 (with permanent tenure);
Assistant Professor, 1962-64;
Instructor, 1961-62;
Assistant in Instruction, Yale College, 1956-57.
III. Education
Public Schools, Greenville, North Carolina
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia,
1949-1953;
A.B. cum laude with exceptional honors in philosophy,
1953;
The Divinity School, Yale University, 1953-1957; B.D.[M.Div.] 1957;
The Victoria University of Manchester, Manchester,
England, 1957-1958
Research Studentship, Faculty of Economic and Social
Studies,
Professor Michael Polanyi, F.R.S., and Professor
Dorothy Emmet, supervisors;
University of Chicago, The Committee on Social Thought,
1958-1960;
1965; studies in literature supervised by Professor
David
Grene; political thought by Professor F. A. von
Hayek;
philosophy by Professor Yves R. Simon;
St. Antony's College, Oxford University, Oxford,
England; Senior
Scholar, studies in social thought directed by Professor
M.
Polanyi, F.R.S., (Senior Fellow, Merton College),
1960-1961;)
University of Chicago, The Committee on Social Thought,
1970-1972.
IV. Fellowships
Danforth Graduate Fellowship, 1953-61.
Research Studentship, University of Manchester,
1957-58.
Elinor Castle Nef and University Fellowships, University
of Chicago, 1958-60.
Senior Scholar, St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1960-61.
Faculty Fellowship, American Association of Theological
Schools, 1965.
Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Humanities,
Wesleyan University, 1980-81.
Residency, Rockefeller Foundation, Villa Serbelloni,
Belagio, April-May, 1995.
V. Teaching
Religious ethics, rhetoric of religion; philosophy
and
anthropology of religion; ritual studies/anthropological
study
of religious practices; theories of religion and
culture; social
theory and comparative studies; public ethics and
public sphere.
Thesis and dissertation committees: Department of Religious Studies;
Folklore Curriculum;
Department of Anthropology; Comparative Literature; Ph.D. committee,
Graduate Program in Religion, Duke University; M.A. Thesis committees,
The School of Nursing, UNC.
VI. Professional Activities
Director, Consultation on the Systematic Study of
Meaningful
Forms, annual meetings The American Academy of Religion, 1975; 1976;
Member, Sub-Committee, Religion and Mental Health,
White House
Conference on Mental Health, 1977-78;
Member, Institute on Human Values in Medicine, Society
for Health
and Human Values (NEH grant), 1971-72;
Co-Convenor, Seminar on Ethos and Accountability
in the Health
Professions, Society for Values in Higher Education
Summer Institute, 1974; [NEH and Rockefeller grants]
Project Advisory Committee, Humanistic Perspectives on Aging, UNC-TV, 1976-77;
Member, Advisory Committee, Bicentennial Project
of the National Humanities Faculty,
1974-75; member, National Humanities
Faculty [now: The National Faculty], 1972--;
Editorial Boards:
Soundings, an Inter-disciplinary Journal (Sponsored by
Society for Values in Higher Education, Vanderbilt
University; and since 1985, The University of Tennessee),
1967-74; 1985-88;
Anglican Theological Review, 1967-74;
Literature & Medicine, 1980-85; 1985-88;
Journal of Southern
Cultures, 1992-94.
Journal of Ritual
Studies, contributing editor, 1991--
Reader for the following publishers: Seabury;
Oxford University
Press; John Knox Press, University of Tennessee Press,
Scholars Press, American Academy of Religion; University of
South Carolina
Press, University of North Carolina Press.
Consultant, Danforth Foundation, 1965-79: Reading
Committees Kent
and Danforth Fellowships; interviewer for Kent and Danforth
Fellowships; member, Advisory Committee (final selection)
of Women's Graduate Fellowship program, 1971-74;
Chair, Central Committee, Society for Values in Higher
Education, 1974-76;
Member, Board of Directors, 1976-79; 1981-84; 1984-90
Vice President, Society for Values in Higher Education, 1983-90.
Chair, Advisory Committee, Mellen Fellowship Program
in Critical
Care Nursing, 1979-83 (Mellen Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio);
Coordinator and Chair, Consultation on Religion and
the Media,
Rockefeller Foundation, 1980;
Member, Board of Consultants, Center for the Study
of Southern Culture,
University of Mississippi, 1981--;
North Carolina Humanities Council (a state-based
program of the
National Endowment for the Humanities), 1983-1988; elected vice chair,
1986-88;
Carolinas Program in Medicine and Society, Duke Endowment-North
Carolina Humanities Committee, Chair of the Advisory Committee, 1983-88;
Advisory Board, Fellowship for Journalists in Religious
Studies,
Department of
Religious Studies, UNC-CH(Rockefeller grant, 1982-85).
Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities,
Fellowships, 1987;
Research Conference
Grants, l989
Consultant, Program Review, Department of Religion, Dickinson
College, October, l989; Bates College, Department
of Philosophy and Religion, 1995.
Chair, External Review Committee, The Claremont
Graduate School, September, l989;
Consultant, Faculty Senate, Buena Vista College, January, l990.
Consultant Kettering Foundation, Public Leadership Conceptual Seminar, l988-92.
Co-Chair, Ritual Studies Section, American Academy of Religion, l990-92;
Member, Advisory Committee, Cultural Differences of Bible Belt Catholics, Life Cycle Institute, Catholic University, 1990-93.
VII. Activities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Faculty Council, 1969-71; alternate, 1983-84; 1987-90;
Faculty Grievance Committee, 1971-74; chair, 1973-74;
Chancellor's Screening Committee for Dean of Arts
& Sciences, 1972;
Fourth Year Electives Committee, The Medical School,
1971-74;
Administrative Board, The Medical School, 1976-81;
President, UNC Faculty Club, 1976-77;
Dean's Seminar in the Humanities, 1977-80;
Advisory Board, Program in Humanities and Human
Values, 1980-86; 1987-91.
Administrative Board, Evening College, 1980-85;
Established Lectures Committee, 1977-80, Chair,
1979-80; 1985-88;
Council, Division of Humanities, 1975-80;
Advisory Board, Curriculum in Folklore;
Advisory Board, Curriculum in American Studies;
Fulbright Screening Committee, chair, 1985;
Honors Advisory Committee, 1987-89;
University Assembly Delegate, 1988-91;
Faculty Council, 1987-90.
Administrative Board, Extension Division, 1990-92.
Member, Chancellor's Committee on Community and
Diversity, 1990-91;
Member, Provost Search Committee, 1991-92;
Member, Executive Committee, Faculty Council, 1992-94;
Member, Committee on Honorary Degrees, 1993-96;
Member, Visions Committee, Provost’s Office, 195--
Chair, Working Group, Public Ethics, Vice Chancellor
for Research, 1995--
Member, Planning Committee, Center for the Study
of the American South, 1992-94;
Member, Executive Committee, Center for the Study
of the American South, 1994--
Member, Board of Directors, Arts and Sciences Foundation,
1992-98
Member, Central Selection Committee, Morehead Scholarships,
1993--
Member, University Budget and Priorities Committee,
1997-
VIII. Administrative Responsibilities
Acting Chairman, Department of Religion, 1972-73;
Chairman, Conference of Chairmen, College of Arts
and Sciences, 1977-78;
Chairman, Department of Religious Studies, 1975-1980;
Acting Chairman, October, 1985-July, 1986;
Dean's Faculty Liaison to the Arts and Sciences
Foundation, 1986-87; 1987-
Chairman, Dean's Working Group on the Arts and Humanities,
1986-87;
Acting Director, Program for the Arts and Humanities,
College of Arts and Sciences, 1987-88;
Director, Institute for the Arts and Humanities,
1988-91.
Reappointed for second three-year term, July l, 1991.
Reappointed for third four-year term, July 1, 1994.
IX. Papers or Lectures delivered to:
American Academy of Religion (11);
Society for Values in Higher Education (8);
Ohio University, College of Arts and Sciences;
The College of Business Administration, Ohio University;
The Executive Program, School of Business,
University of North Carolina, 1970-1971;
Program in Science and Society, North Carolina State
University;
Cutting Edge Symposium, University of North Carolina;
University of Dayton, 1972 (2);
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion;
North Carolina Committee for the Humanities, 1975-88;
North Carolina Nurses Association;
University of North Carolina at Greensboro;
Mellen Fellows Conference, 1979, 80, 81;
Seminar Leader/Lecturer, UNC Vacation College,
“Contemporary Religious Movements," July, 1980; 1988.
Lecturer and Resident Faculty member, Workshop on
the
Humanities for Community Colleges, Andrew Mellon-National
Humanities Faculty Project, Wells College, July-August, 1980;
three lectures on professional ethics;
Closing Address, "Locality and Vision in the Humanist
Vocation,
Southeastern Regional Meeting, Community College
Humanities Association, Sarasota, Florida, October, 1980;
Paper presented to Colloquium, Department of Religious
Studies, Wesleyan University, December, 1980, "Can We Find
our Feet with Them? Cultures in Collision";
Paper Presented to Board of Trustees, National Humanities
Faculty, February, 1981, "Civil Orientation in Thinking", (Hilton Head,
SC);
"The Death of Authority," two lectures, Episcopal
Seminary
of the Southwest, Austin, Texas, November, 1981;
"George Eliot's Middlemarch," lecture to "Woman
and
Shakespeare Conference," High Point College, July, 1982;
"Conrad's Heart of Darkness," UNC Program in Humanities
and
Human Values, October, 1982;
"Must You Believe in Order to Understand a Religion?"
Lecture to UNC Village Elders Program, General
Administration, October, 1982;
"'Cultural Bias,' Grid-Group Analysis and Ethnographic
Practice,"
paper presented to American Academy of Religion, December, 1983,
(on work of Mary Douglas)
"Christianity and Capitalism," Seminar, Program
in the Humanities, UNC, 1985;
"Crisis in Health Care: Cosmological and Social
Dimensions,"
South Carolina Humanities Committee, 1985;
"Judgment in the Context of New Knowledge," Association
of
American Colleges, Annual Meeting, 1987.
"Jesus," Founders of Great Tradition," Program
in the Humanities, UNC-CH, April, l989;
"John Calvin, Max Weber, and the Blue Ridge
Primitive Baptists:
Pilgrims as Critics of Evangelical Culture,"
invited lecture,
Honors and Master of Liberal Studies Programs,
UNC-G, April, l989
Resource Person, Wye Faculty Seminar, Aspen
East, August, l989, 1990.
Paper, "The Undergraduate Major," American
Academy of Religion,
New Orleans, November, 1990.
Seminar Leader, Faculty Seminar on "American
Experience,"(NEH
Grant), Vance-Granville Community College,
February, 1991.
Lyman Coleman Lecturer, Lafayette College,
March, 1991.
The Luce Program Lecturer, Wake Forest University,
April 8-9,
1991, "Conversion and Difference in the Rhetoric
of Southern
Protestantism: Consequences for Cultural Diversity,"
three lectures.
Lecturer, Program in University Studies, University
of Tennesse, Knoxville, 1992.
X. Papers from Research projects
"Can We Find Our Feet With Them? Cultures in
Collision,"presented
to the Colloquium of the Department of Religious Studies,
Wesleyan University, December, 1980.
"From Field Work to Ethnography," Lecture, The Center
for the
Humanities, Wesleyan University, April, 1981.
"Kant's Contribution to Anthropology," presented
to Colloquium of
the Department of Anthropology, UNC-CH, November, 1981.
"The Rhetoric of Evangelical Religion," Lecture,
North Carolina
Editorial Writers Conference, October, 1982.
"World and Identity in Ritual Action," Lectures,
The Episcopal
Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas,
November, 1982.
"Primitive Baptist Preaching: Its Rhetoric
and Theology" (with
J.L. Peacock), American Folklore Association Annual Meeting,
November, 1982.
"Making Texts in North Carolina: Field Work
in the History of
Religions," Annual Meeting, American Academy of Religion,
November 1984.
"Ethnographic Description of Pentecostal Faith Healing
Practices
in North Carolina," Lecture, The Medical School, East
Carolina University, April, 1985.
"Pentecostal and Calvinist Life Histories," (with
J. L. Peacock),
Colloquium Institute for Research in the Social Sciences,
UNC-CH, April, 1985.
"Pentecostal Faith Healing in Historical Perspective,"
Lecture to
the Invited Session, Annual Meeting of the American
Association for the History of Medicine, Duke University,
May, 1985.
"Judgment Making and Examples," paper presented to
the Society for
Values in Higher Education, Annual Meeting, August, 1986.
"Ethnographic Judgment and the Role of Description
in Taking the
Standpoint of the Other," Annual Meeting, American Academy
of Religion, November, 1986.
"The Rhetoric of Pentecostal Ritual," paper, Annual
Meeting of the
Society for Pentecostal Studies. November, 1986.
"'The Uncanny' in Pentecostal Healing Rituals," Ritual
Studies
Group, American Academy of Religion, December, 1987;
"Example, Apprenticeship, and Judgment, Society for
Volumes in
Higher Education, annual meeting, 1988;
"Tropes in Testimony," American Folklore Association,
1988.
"The Primitive Baptist Elder as Shaman," Ritual
Studies Section,
American Academy of Religion, Anaheim, l989;
"Revisiting the Classics: van Gennep's Rites of
Passage," American
Academy of Religion, 1992;
"The Rhetoric of Conversion and Cultural Diversity,"
Rockefeller
Foundation, Villa Serbelloni, Belagio, Italy, May
2, 1995.
XI. Publications
"Henry Nash Smith's Virgin Land," Shenandoah, Winter, 1950, 42-47.
"Philosophical Analysis
and Religious Language, A
Bibliography,"
The Christian Scholar, 1960.
"The American
Experience and the Christian Faith,"
The Living Church,
1962.
"The Scope of
Religious Language: A Dialogue," (with C. R. Jaekle)
Motive Magazine, 1962.
"Between Cult
and Culture," The Christian Scholar, 1965, 49-57.
"Urban Renewal
in the Holy City," Anglican
Theological
Review, 1966, 78-88.
Contributor
(revised version of above essay),
The Secular
City Debate, ed. Daniel Callahan. N.Y.:
The Macmillan
Company, 1966.
"Humanities
and Professional Education," Proceedings of the
College of Business, Ohio University, Research Division, 1969.
"Confusions
of Culture in the University,"
The Identity
Crisis of Higher Education , eds.
Harold
L. Hodgkinson and Myron B.Bloy.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1970, 27-48.
"A Definition
of Religious Studies in the Context of Health
Professional Education," Proceedings of the Institute on
Human Values
in Medicine, (Southwest Regional Institute,
October 17-19, 1973). Edited by
Lorraine L. Hunt.
Philadelphia: Society for Health and Human Values, 1974, 29-41.
"Tents or Shacks?:
Reflections on Languages and Teaching,"
Liberal Education,
LXIII, No. 4 (December, 1977),
544-552.
Introduction,
Conference Report, The Rockefeller Foundation,
"The Religion
Beat: The Reporting of Religion in the
Media, NY: 1981,
pp. 1-7.
"Program in
Religious Studies for Journalists," The Bulletin
of the Council
on the Study of Religion, Vol. XIII, No. 3,
June, 1982,
pp. 65-69.
"Leopards in
the Temple," Literature and Medicine, Vol. I, 1982, pp. 28-31.
"Journalism
and Religion," Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by
by Mircea Eliade, et al. NY: Macmillan, 1986, vol. VIII, pp.
120-127.
"Voices in Primitive
Baptist Calvinism,"
Notebooks in
Cultural Analysis, Vol. III, (Institute for
Cultural Analysis, New York University), edited by Norman
Cantor and Nathalia King. Duke University Press, 1986, pp. 61-96.
"Pentecostal
and Primitive Baptist: Comparative Life
Histories,"
with J. L. Peacock. Social Science, Vol. 71,
No. 1, (1986), pp. 46-53.
"Criticism and
Tradition: The Social Thought of Michael
Polanyi,"Tradition
& Discovery: The Polanyi Society
Vol. XIV, No. 1, Fall, 1986-87, pp. 4-8.
Diversities of Gifts:
Field Studies in Southern Religion.
edited by Ruel W. Tyson, Jr., James L. Peacock, and Daniel
W. Patterson. (Folklore and Society Series), Urbana and Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 1988.
"Method and Spirit: Studying the Diversity of Gestures in
Religion" (introduction), pp. 3-20;
"The Testimony of Sister Annie Mae," pp. 105-125.
"Culture's 'Hum and Buzz' of Implication:
The Practice of
Ethnographry and the Provocations of Clifford Geertz's
'Thick Description,'" Soundings, an Interdisciplinary
Journal, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (spring, 1988), pp. 95-111.
"Live by Comparisons": A New Home for Reason in the University?,
The Sixth Annual Memorial Lecture, The Society for Values in
Higher Education, published by Soundings, an
Interdisciplinary Journal, for the Society, Knoxville,
The University of Tennessee, 1988, pp. 5-33.
"The Testimony of Sister Annie Mae," Journal of Ritual Studies.
Vol. II, No. 2 (Summer, 1988) pp. 163-184. (Expanded
version of a chapter in Diversities of Gifts)
"Teaching Political Education," The Civic Arts Review, Vol. I,
No. 1, pp. 10-13.
Pilgrims of Paradox: Calvinism and Experience Among the
Primitive Baptists of the Blue Ridge. With James L. Peacock.
Washington, DC: The Smithsonian Institution Press
(Ethnographic Inquiry Series), 1989,i-xxii; l-290.
with James L. Peacock, "Multiplying by Dividing: Conflict
and
Transcendence Among Primitive Baptists of
the Blue Ridge. Comparative Social
Research, Supplement I, pp. 229-252, 1990.
Book Review, J1. of Ritual Studies, vol. 10, no.2, winter, 1996,2pp.
XII. Work in Progress
Voices, Allegory, and Symbol in Primitive Baptists
of the Blue
Ridge. This work is an expansion of the article "Voices in
Primitive Baptist Calvinism" cited above.
Conversion and Difference in the Rhetoric of
Southern Protestant
Religions: Consequences for Cultural Diversity and Democratic
Practice. Expansion of Luce Lectures at Wake Forest University,
1991, and Bellagio Project, 1995.
The Ethnography of Reciprocal Criticism, a
methodological work
in the ethics, epistemology, and rhetoric of ethnographic practice
A comparative work on the ways Pentecostals
and Primitive
Baptists view ritual, scriptures, affliction, death, children,
women, conversion, and the life cycle is planned with J. L. Peacock.
Major Research: George Eliot, Henry James, and Edith Wharton:
Visiters to Florence:
A Study in Rhetorics of Description
XIV. Awards and Honors
Salgo Award for Distinguished Teaching, University
of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970
Senior Research Fellowship, Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University, 1980-81
Memorial Lecturer, Annual Meeting, Society for Values in Higher Education, August, 1987
Pogue Leave, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, January-August, 1988.
Luce Lectureship, Wake Forest University, April,
1991.
Invited Paper in Recognition of Outstanding Teaching,
American
Academy of Religion, Kansas City, 1991.
Recognition Day Speaker (December Graduation),
UNC-CH, December 12, 1992,
(invited by senior class officers and marshalls)
Invited Paper, "Conversionist Religions," conference
on
"Pluralism and Its Cultural Expression," jointly
sponsored by
The Rockefeller Foundation and the Aga Kahn Trust
for Culture,
Bellagio, Italy, November 9-12, 1992.
Kenan Research Leave/Arts and Sciences Study Leave,
1994-95.
Completion of Leadership Development Course, Center
for Creative Leadership,
Colorado Springs, July 12-18, 1997.
XV. Grants
University Research Council Awards, 1978-84; 1985-86; 1990
National Institutes of Mental Health (with J.L. Peacock),
1978,
for project, "Conversion, Testimonial, Healing in Pentecostal Religion"
National Endowment for the Humanities, General Research
Division,
Grant #RO -20026, (with D.W. Patterson and J.L. Peacock),
1981-84, "World and Identity in Ritual Action: Comparative
Studies in American Sectarian Tradition."
University Research Council, UNC-CH, 2,000, publication subvention.
"Reimagining Politics: Craft and Comprehension,"
Kettering Foundation,
co-director, 1991-93. $30,000.
Lilly Endowment, Inc. Teaching Fellows Grant, Institute
for the
Arts and Humanities, UNC-CH, 135,000., 1990-93.
Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Minority Undergraduate Reseach
Assistant
Program, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, 140,000., 1991-93.
Rockefeller Foundation, Humanities Residency Site
grant, post-doctoral
fellowships, 1991-95, and Research Seminar on the
American South in Comparative Perspective, Institute
for the Arts
and Humanities, co-director
In conjunction with the Arts and Sciences Foundation,
raised
$4,500,000. for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities,
Bicentennial Campaign for Carolina, 1990-1995.
Raised $950,00 in endowments for fellowships between
12-97 and 3-98, and
$4,800,000 million for a building to support faculty research at the
IAH.
Public Service
Delivered the Opening Convocation Address at Washington and Lee University,
September 10, 1997
Public Audiences:
Greater Greensboro Kiwanis Club, May 8, 1997;
Address to associates from three Charlotte law firms,
September 4, 1997;
“Relationships between Professional and Personal Life.”
IAH Traveling Fellows Programs, weekends in New
Bern NC, (June and January),
Charlotte, NC (March 27, 1998, the New Bern group included a member
of the
NC Senate
Gave seminar at the Museum of the New South, Charlotte,
March 28, 1998: Leadership
and the City, Charlotte officials, to a member of NC Senate and community
leaders.
Led seminar in NYC in January, February 21, 1998
with recent UNC-CH graduates
On topic “Most Difficult Personal and Professional Decisions Since
Graduating.”
revised 5/1/98