"I don't know how the very aliveness of the universities escapes our attention," she says. "[Universities are] living conversation."
Scarry says that most Harvard faculty members are devoted teachers; the problem is that there aren't enough of them. "Our faculty is too small for the student size." From the perspective of the outside world, she says, "I don't think Harvard is famous for its undergraduate teaching…you don't realize how dedicated these teachers are."
English and Airplanes
For Scarry, a highly technical report on an airplane crash was an extension of her work as an English professor.
"They are actually much more connected than you think," she says
While Scarry was working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Palo Alto, she happened to open a folder of notes containing an article that she had filed away in 1989. As she read about electromagnetic interference downing military aircraft, she wondered if civilian aircraft might also be at risk.
Inspired, she researched the issue for several months and concluded that air-disaster investigators were ignoring the risk.
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