[Tlc] david wyatt

[justinm at ucr.edu]

This is a anonymous posting in honor of David Wyatt from one
of his students. It speaks not only to his scholarship and
mentoring, but also to the last years of his career when he
became a librarian and archivist, thus ensuring that future
students and scholars would have easy access to resources and
the ability to write new histories. A great teacher wants
her/his students to surpass her/him. David Wyatt was just such
a teacher. See posting below.
Best,
justin

I would like to share with you my fond recollections of my
respected
Professor David K. Wyatt as his former graduate student at
Cornell. He was
an excellent role model in teaching, advising, and mentoring
and he made a
significant impact on my academic and professional career.  

TEACHING

Professor Wyatt was a marvelous professor that I have ever
studied with in
graduate school. He always prepared his lecture notes and tried
to cover everything that he prepared for each lecture. His
sense of humor
made his lectures enlightening and the leading discussions thought
provoking. His required and recommended readings are still
classic works
for the study of Southeast Asian history/Thai history. 

ADVISING

Professor Wyatt committed his quality time slots to advise his
students
during his regular office hours on Tuesday. My regular time
slot was 
2:45-3:00 every Tuesday to discuss with him about his lecture
follow-up
questions and/or submit a new draft of my thesis writing by
section and by chapter. He read through my draft quickly and
marked in red
question marks on those rough spots for my next draft. It was
a lifelong 
memorable learning experience with Professor Wyatt. He always
encouraged 
students to do their very best research and was ready to give
them 
a lift when they needed so they can reach the final
destination of their 
academic journey as scheduled.  
 
Professor Wyatt was Chair of CORMOSEA (Committee on Research
Materials on
Southeast Asia), 1983-1986. He lent me his entire CORMOSEA
archive for my 
thesis research and shared with me his challenges and worthwhile
contributions of serving CORMOSEA. 

I gratefully acknowledge Professor Wyatt who played an
instrumental role
in the development of my thesis "Committee on Research
Materials on Southeast
Asia: Past, Present and Future." Thanks to his well-placed
criticisms,
helpful discussions, and valuable comments and suggestions and his
enormous patience, I was able to complete my thesis at his
satisfaction.
His words of encouragement on the first blank page of my
thesis have been
transformed into an endless source of inspiration for my
undertaking many
more challenges in my career:

"Expressing my admiration for your determination, hard work,
and unfailing
perceptiveness through a long period of hard work. May the
years to come
bring you increasing joy and happiness."

My thesis work also reminded Professor Wyatt of Ms. Lian Tie Kho's
professional contributions in Southeast Asia technical
services at Yale
University: drafting transliteration tables, creating or
updating name 
authority files, subject headings, word divisions, etc. in
consultation
with Southeast Asia scholars, faculty, and librarians before
submitting
the proposals to the Library of Congress and other affiliated
professional library organizations for review and approval.
Thanks to his
nomination to AAS (Association for Asian Studies), Ms. Kho was
the recipient of
the 1994 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian
Studies. It was a
great honor for AAS to recognize Ms. Kho's dedication in
Southeast Asia
academic librarianship. 

MENTORING

Professor Wyatt remained to serve as my mentor all these years
whenever I 
needed to consult him on Thai transliteration table, Thai word
division, Thai 
name authority records, and other mainland Southeast Asian
script as relevant 
in providing scholarly access to the Southeast Asian
collections at Berkeley. 

Let there be memories of Professor Wyatt's scholarly
contributions in the
field of Southeast Asian studies and his labor of love in
Southeast Asia
academic librarianship... He served as interim Curator of the
Echols
Collection for an extended period of time while he was not in
good health
condition. His intellectual influence, inspirational advising,
unfailing 
guidance, and his great sense of humor will remain near in
spirit long after 
he left...


______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu