Mentor, scholar, leader, friend.
Those were among the words most used to describe Paul Benson, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs and professor of philosophy, during a campus celebration May 11. Faculty and staff gathered in Kennedy Union ballroom to celebrate his 38 years at UD. Benson retires as professor emeritus and provost emeritus July 1.
During his seven years as provost, Benson elevated the understanding of the role of provost — the chief academic officer on campus — and championed the Marianist mission embodied by the University.
“Whenever I think about the pillar of Marianist education — education for service, justice, peace and the integrity of creation — I continue to be moved and inspired,” he said.
The University hired Benson in 1985 to teach philosophy in a department he described as open, friendly and inclusive — adjectives not often found in a discipline he said is training for “intellectual warfare.” He felt at home teaching and mentoring students, conducting scholarship and serving as a member of the faculty. But when he was called, he said yes to administrative service, first as director of the humanities core program, then as department chair, in 2007 as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and onto provost — despite being a self-proclaimed introvert. He attributed his success to the collaborations staff, faculty and administration opened to him.
Sean Wilkinson, professor emeritus of art and design, was among those who sent tributes to be shared during the celebration: “No one better embodies humility, fair-mindedness, integrity, empathy, sincerity, generosity, sensitivity, clear-thinking, good judgment and innate goodness. We are all beneficiaries of the wisdom he has demonstrated and the example he has set.”
Benson’s leadership has led to notable University achievements during his tenure as provost. Among them are:
In retirement, Benson and his wife, Stephanie, plan to spend more time with family on the east and west coasts.
Known throughout campus as a voracious reader, Benson couldn’t resist giving his audience one last book recommendation: The Gift, by Lewis Hyde. The reflection on art and the creativity that drives our lives also held lessons for Benson on his role at UD.
“Gift cultures — which, as a university, we strive to be,” he said, “are about receiving what we are given, and then giving them on — and then, by doing that, becoming gifted ourselves.
“... I am making a commitment to you that whatever I end up doing in this next phase of life, I will try to pass that gift forward to others.”
“For all the gifts that you’ve given me in so many ways, I am making a commitment to you that whatever I end up doing in this next phase of life, I will try to pass that gift forward to others.”
Among the honors presented to Benson at the celebration was the announcement of the Paul Benson Opportunity Scholars, an endowed fund supported by his colleagues that will award each year scholarships to students studying in visual or performing arts, a love of Benson’s. The awards will support Flyer Promise Scholars and UD Sinclair Academy students, programs started under Benson’s tenure to help assure highly skilled students have access to a quality UD education regardless of their ability to pay.
President Eric F. Spina said Benson’s leadership has helped the University navigate difficult times for higher education — with a national downturn in the number of high school graduates and a pandemic — and created a campus that is stronger, more diverse, more engaged in the Dayton community and more nationally relevant.
“Paul truly models the Marianist charism in the way he treats others, in the way that he thinks of his vocation and in the way he gives so much of himself to others,” he said.
To the man he calls his friend, Spina extended his thanks: “You leave the University a better place than when you arrived through your hard work and your love of the people and the mission of the place.”