Ryan’s A Collegiate Way of Living Now Available
Posted by R. J. O’Hara for the Collegiate Way
4 September 2001 (collegiateway.org) — Mark Ryan’s important new volume about residential colleges, A Collegiate Way of Living, is now available from the Yale University Bookstore. If you have only one book about residential colleges, this is the one to have. I just got my copy and have been reading it with much pleasure (and recognizing almost every situation it describes—the years may come and go, but students and collegiate life are ever the same). The publisher’s notice with ordering information follows:
As one of the publications celebrating its 300th anniversary, Yale University has recently issued A Collegiate Way of Living: Residential Colleges and a Yale Education by Mark B. Ryan, who was Dean of Yale’s Jonathan Edwards College for more than twenty years. Focusing on his own College as an exemplar, Ryan discusses the history and theory of American residential colleges systems, the advising of students within the college setting, and the value and challenges of maintaining such collegiate institutions within a modern university. “No one, it may be, has a more intimate knowledge of the Yale residential college system than Mark Ryan,” writes Richard Brodhead, Dean of Yale College, in the book’s foreword. “Long referred to as ‘the dean’s dean,’ Ryan brought to this job virtues that this collection of writings brilliantly displays: unfailing grace of manner and expression, devotion to the college as both an ideal and a daily social reality, and an abiding concern for the whole human welfare of each student in his charge. Ryan brought a large measure of wisdom to this job, but he also learned by living and working so intimately with students, and this volume is the distillation of that knowledge.” An epilogue treats of the author’s work in establishing the first residential college system in Latin America, at la Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico. Handsomely designed by Yale University Printer John Gambell, the book may be ordered online through the Yale Bookstore at a special price of $15 (including shipping and handling). Alternatively, a check for US$15 made out to “Jonathan Edwards College” may be sent via regular mail to: Tercentennial Office, Yale University, 2 Whitney Ave., New Haven, Connecticut 06520 USA.
I have included the book on the Collegiate Way’s Recommended Reading page also, and I extend congratulations to Mark for his important and delightful contribution to the literature of residential colleges.
After serving for many years at Yale, Dr. Ryan recently became one of the founders of the new system of residential colleges at the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico. Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Puebla for the first time and touring all the colleges there. UDLA is a private university with about 8000 students, and even though none of its colleges is more than three years old, they have already developed a wonderful sense of communal life. Some of the colleges are housed in new construction with beautifully landscaped courtyards, while others occupy centuries-old buildings that are still undergoing renovation. If you’d like to see what is being done in these first residential colleges in Latin America you may pay a visit to the UDLA colleges website by way of the Collegiate Way’s directory of Residential Colleges Worldwide. I’m grateful to all my hosts for the kind hospitality they showed me during my visit to Puebla.
Update · 19 June 2008: Mark Ryan’s A Collegiate Way of Living is now available online in an expertly-produced pdf edition.
