Knowledge Bank

As a professor at Oberlin College and Yale University, Paul B. Sears taught principles that influenced his students throughout their careers. These included the obligation to disseminate knowledge to others. However, he also believed that no one could teach another all that he or she knew and, rather, should impart an attitude, an approach. He advised students that they must be respected in a specific area of expertise before they could pursue broader interests. The Conservation Program that Sears established at Yale was innovative by accepting students from varied and nontraditional backgrounds, in accepting women (the author was the first) and in allowing students to take courses in other colleges and schools at the university. Thirty-six years later, the first graduates of the program were able to have reunion at Sears’ home in Taos and realized that they had been privileged to study with a great man.