Editor’s note: Taylor resigned from his position as dean of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in 1995 following a revelation that he did not receive a degree he had listed on his resume, according to the Daily Press. His response to the resignation, in full, is as follows:
“My interview with Ms. Chaurand focused primarily on my career as a teacher and the factors that influenced it. Teaching and mentoring students has been the most rewarding and satisfying part of my 50+ year career. I voluntarily resigned as Dean and Director of VIMS and the School of Marine Science because of the limited time I had to respond to an issue raised about my record – which I consider to be a lack of due process – and the harassment my family was suffering. Had I had more time to respond, I would have hired counsel independent of the University to pursue legal action. I am confident that such action would have presented an entirely different picture – namely, that I had met the requirements for earning an additional, discretionary degree, that in the confusion surrounding my move from The University of Miami to the University of Maryland (confusion that included going through a divorce while supporting my young sons) I failed to pay the fee for the discretionary degree, and later removed it from my credentials at Miami but failed to do so permanently in the credential history that I maintained. This error propagated into my time at W&M. I regret my carelessness and inattention.
My research and teaching career began in 1967, and my time as Dean and Director at W&M accounts for roughly 8% of that career. While small in this context, my resignation was not without significance. I would be the first to tell you that.
In my interview with Ms. Chaurand, she asked me if I had any regrets. My response focused on the time commitment I made to pursue my early career in Oceanography and its impact on my young family, leading to divorce. It was an unhappy time, and in the ledger of regrets, it is far more important to me as a life lesson than any other. It is not that my resignation as Dean of VIMS and the SMS wasn’t regretful, mainly because of the lost opportunity to complete what I had accomplished there. However, there is also gratitude for the opportunity to build a young, dynamic faculty that would grow to achieve outstanding excellence. I am especially grateful to have been able to hire several accomplished young women faculty members, making us one of the most diverse faculties in marine science.
At my age (82), it’s improbable that I would have a spotless life despite all my reading of saints and philosophers. Still, it’s been a great life to have. On the last day of my COLL 150 seminars, a tradition was to be open to students’ questions and give frank, honest answers. In the Spring of 2023, I was asked, “What advice can you give us?” Spontaneously, I said, “Be kind to others.” My principles and beliefs remain fast despite my experiences, regrets, and thankfulness. They have shaped my teaching and taught me to learn from them all, the good and the bad.”
Former professor of marine science Dennis Taylor began teaching undergraduate courses in 1995. He also served as a faculty member under the Sharpe Scholars Program.
Taylor shared his upbringing and how he feels it had a great impact on his outlook on life and what he feels should be debated in classrooms. His father, who Taylor claims was a “natural teacher,” served in World World II.
In Taylor’s childhood, he was surrounded by powerful people who worked for the military and was exposed to international challenges at a young age. Taylor says his environment growing up led him to have an outlook on life of constantly asking “why?”
Taylor credits his “moral judgment” to his Jesuit education he received early in his life, and believes his path into academia was natural.
Taylor integrated stories he read early in his life into class teachings. A short story titled “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy talks about a peasant man who wished for the most land he could ever want and ultimately lost everything.
“We live in an era where there are some extraordinarily wealthy people, and some of them if they gave away just half of their wealth could solve major problems,” he said.
Taylor challenged students to analyze the idea of sufficiency, and what that looks like from person to person.
Lived experiences shaped Taylor’s teachings. Taylor was in Paris during the Paris Riots of 1968, and engaged in conversations with others about political ecology.
The question Taylor presented which sparked conversation was, “What kind of government do we want to have, and how should government connect with the way we live with an environment?” Students grappled with the philosophical aspect of Taylor’s courses, exchanging ideas of how our societal interactions and decisions impact our environment.
Overall, Taylor’s teaching structure was telling stories as examples for ideas. Taylor explained how this method may be hard to execute, but he would much rather do that instead of a PowerPoint lecture, which he says, “it’s like smoking a cigar: you’re the only one who enjoys it and everybody else doesn’t.”
Before joining the College of William and Mary, Taylor already had a strong academic background. After attending the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate degree, Taylor began his path to become an oceanographer at the University of Wales. Taylor explained how he connected with a professor at the university who agreed to work with him on research.
“So I went out that afternoon and I sold my car and I bought an airplane ticket,” he said.
During his time at the University of Wales, Taylor developed research sites in the United Kingdom and Normandy, France. After finishing his degree, Taylor pursued a post-doctoral fellowship for the The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, where he spent two years at the Marine Biological Association.
After finishing his fellowship for NATO, he completed another fellowship with the French National Laboratories in Normandy for a year, then an additional nine months in Naples at their biological station.
Taylor would later come back to the states to pursue another postdoctoral experience in New York City.
Taylor shared that, after this experience, he felt a large responsibility to one day pursue an administrative role.
Taylor worked alongside Luigi Provasoli, a phycologist who studied invertebrates and algae. Taylor credits his ability to conduct and fund research projects to Provasoli.
Once Taylor finished his time in New York, he did not know how to thank Provasoli for his mentoring. Provasoli said to him, “you repay me by doing this for someone else.” This quote became Taylor’s academic approach during his time at the College.
During Taylor’s time as a professor, he was a member of the Sharpe Scholars Program, a freshman-student program dedicated to conducting community research.
Taylor explained how he enjoyed teaching the COLL 150 ‘Living with the Environment,’ although at times he felt the students were quite shy. A big goal of Taylor’s was fostering a comfortable environment so students felt confident expressing their viewpoints.
He also encouraged students to want to learn beyond what they are comfortable with to challenge themselves to explore different disciplines and ideas.
In 2008, Taylor was awarded the President’s Award for Service to the Community. Taylor explained how two Sharpe students mentioned the local Unitarian Church was in need of a new heating source. Taylor and his class of 15 students decided to construct a biofuel plant for the church. Taylor shared how in 2008, the College was one of the lowest-ranked schools in sustainability, and he and the students were praised for their biofuel plant. Taylor described it as a rewarding experience which demonstrated to students how they can achieve anything they wish to.
