When Edwin Weaver joined the Mount Holyoke chemistry department, Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House and cars had tail fins. The year was 1958, and Carr Laboratory was a new building. Weaver, who will retire in June, leaves behind a remarkable record of accomplishment, according to colleague Mary Campbell, chair of the chemistry department.
"I always wanted to teach, and I've enjoyed my time here," says Weaver in summing up four decades at the College. Weaver recalls many favorite students over the years, including one outstanding scientist who he proudly notes was recently featured on the cover of a global pharmaceutical corporation's annual report.
Weaver has taught nearly all the courses in the chemistry department and was an adviser to dozens of students doing independent work, including the current president of the Alumnae Association. As adviser, he provided expertise and guidance in projects from neutron activation analysis, to fluorescence of molecules bound to DNA, to the physical chemistry of proteins. This last was also a personal research interest of Weaver's.
Weaver brought millions of dollars in grants to the College, many for major scientific instruments such as the physics department's van de Graaf generator, a highly unusual piece of instrumentation for a liberal arts college. He also obtained grants for several summers of "Women in Science" workshops for women who wished to return to scientific careers after a hiatus. His grant proposal to the Luce Foundation eventually funded a series of lectures and visiting professorships in the field of cosmology. This grant brought notables to campus that included Carl Sagan and Nobel laureate physicist Norman Ramsey (father of Patricia Ramsey of MHC's psychology department).
Weaver also served as chemistry department chair for ten years and on the Faculty Conference Committee for two terms.
The music department faculty freely admits that Weaver attends more performances in Pratt Hall than they do themselves. He has built a harpsichord and taken part in many performances, musical and otherwise, on campus. Perhaps the most memorable of his Faculty Show appearances was his role as Barney the dinosaur. After retirement, Weaver is hoping to get back to the piano more.
"I expect to take quite a long nap," quips Weaver, who is also known for his ready wit and love of puns. "I've got some travel plans in my mind for summer and fall, probably tourist trips to Canada and Europe. I'll take a long vacation and then think about what to do next. I may get bored, but that could take two or three years!"
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