It would be easy to mistake religion professor Darryl Caterine for a student. He often goes out for coffee with his students to talk, stays up late nights in the library and is surrounded by a youthful and enthusiastic aura.
For Caterine, education and teaching have formed an axis around which his life rotates. Ironically, the religion department, at a school that is known for its self-professed emphasis on teaching is currently seeking his replacement.
At the end of this term, Caterine will move out to California where he will join the faculty at California Lutheran University.
Fortunately, Caterine's passion for learning, teaching and interacting closely with students does not go unacknowledged.
The Student Assembly recognized his devotion last night, awarding Caterine the "Profiles in Excellence" teaching award. Aly Rahim '02 read from two of the many nominations for Caterine before handing him the plaque that symbolized students' gratitude.
Upon receiving the award, Caterine showed great emotion, and, at a loss for words, finally said, "Wow. I feel a little ferklempted."
A tittering of laughter and some confused glances followed, and it became clear that "ferklemped," or "choked up by emotion" didn't make up a part of everyone's vocabulary. "Yeah. Yeah, thank you very much," Caterine managed to say.
During the discussion that followed, Caterine brought up issues concerning the nature of Dartmouth as an institute of higher education, the tenure system and the reasons surrounding his departure.
Caterine made it clear that when hired, the contract bound him to three years. "It was explicitly a terminal position," he said, adding that the religion department had extended it one year.
At one point, a student brought up the fact that the department was currently hiring for his position. She wondered if he had been told when his job went on the market, if he had reapplied or if he had chosen to decline it.
Caterine replied simply, "No, I was not told."
The long silence following this statement reflected the surprise of the assembled students.
During a separate interview, when asked how it's been teaching here at Dartmouth, Caterine leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and didn't speak for a moment, silent except for snapping his gum.
Finally after a drawn out pause, Caterine remarked, "It's been a real honor to teach in the kind of school that I was a part of -- to give back to the Ivy League ... the students have been wonderful."
Students and teaching have been integral during Caterine's career, in contrast to some professors who are more focused on research.
"Some scholars continue their thinking through writing -- the way I continue is through interaction, with teaching. I can't make a distinction between my teaching and so-called research. My students tell me where American society is at the present moment," he said. "If I lose contact with students, I get cut off from the world."
Although Caterine himself focuses completely on teaching and strives to help his students learn, he feels that as an institution, Dartmouth could do better.
"I feel like Dartmouth is resting on its laurels. It knows that it has achieved the status of an Ivy League institution -- it becomes complacent because of that perception. It doesn't push itself to become truly excellent," he said.
According to students, Caterine represents the excellence they expected from Dartmouth and was an extremely deserving recipient of the teaching award.
"He's amazing, just a fantastic educator. He inspires interest in everything he talks about," said Benjamin Wade '04, one of many who nominated Caterine for the award. "Dartmouth is losing a lot by losing him."
John Chibarro '02 also complimented Caterine profusely. "He is free of a lot of the limitations put on by academia," Chibarro said. "He lets you explore your abilities. He rewards free thinking."
Caterine himself said, "I think I got the award because I love what I do, meaning I love teaching. The award is an incredible honor ... It is allowing me to leave this place on a really high note. These brilliant young minds that I have taught are acknowledging this."
Many experiences and people have pointed Caterine's life in the direction of education. He mentioned that his great-grandmother "has been a legend in the family ... She placed an emphasis on the education of a person," Caterine said.
Caterine grew up in Wilmontflat, N.H., a small town about 35 miles from Hanover, where he attended Kearsarge Regional High School.
Leaning back and propping his feet on his desk, Caterine described his experience being "taught by ex-hippies who had moved up into the woods.
"Education was a way of opening minds and [increasing] awareness. School was the only thing to do around here."
Caterine recalled formative experience when a high school teacher brought students to the Seabrook nuclear power plant protests.
"I remember camping, sitting as part of a non-violent blockade. I remember riot police coming after us with batons," he recalled. "It was an eye-opener."
Referring to this experience, Caterine said "that sums up what high school was about -- looking critically at the world around us, asking questions about how people treat each other in this society."
After graduating as valedictorian, Caterine went on to Harvard, where "it was hard to choose which subject to devote myself to."
During his junior year at Harvard, Caterine got the chance to follow one of his dreams and spent a semester in India, studying the culture and religion of the region.
Although the semester "really planted the seed" for his career, it was not what Caterine had expected.
"India was nothing I had romanticized it to be ... but I still found kind of a pervasive spirituality," he said. "I found myself mostly looking back at my own country, asking 'Why do Americans have to have so much stuff?'"
Immediately after graduation from Harvard, Caterine went to work, teaching at a pre-preparatory boarding school for learning-disabled boys where "I discovered my love for teaching."
After a year, Caterine felt that he still needed answers to some questions about religion, so he returned to Harvard Divinity School, spending one summer working closely with an Episcopalian church on Fogo Island, a small isolated place off the coast of Newfoundland.
Although Caterine found his experience there to be the only part of divinity school that was not "a waste of time," he discovered that he "wasn't cut out to be a minister."
While on the island, Caterine paid close attention to his surroundings. "What I saw in Fogo Island was the same as what I saw in India -- a strong sense of community, history, and tradition, but modern western influences were coming in and destroying their culture."
After working a short time in a law firm, Caterine went back to school, attending the University of California at Santa Barbara for its doctoral program in religious studies.
In six years, Caterine received his Ph.D. and lectured for a year at California Lutheran University, to which he is now returning. After his four years here, Dartmouth students will be sad to see him go.
