[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 60 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S4841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO DR. VINCE DAVIS: 27 YEARS AT THE PATTERSON SCHOOL OF 
                  DIPLOMACY AND INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 
tremendous accomplishments of Dr. Vince Davis, who is retiring this 
spring after 27 years at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and 
International Commerce at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
  Since I was first elected to the United States Senate in 1984, Vince 
and I have had occasion to discuss important issues of the day in 
foreign affairs, as well as the underlying trends and currents that 
shape and guide world events looming just over the horizon. I have 
never failed to find his views both penetrating and insightful, and 
have always appreciated his counsel over the years.
  But now, Vince has decided to pursue new interests after nearly three 
decades of toiling in the academic vineyard, and so it's appropriate 
that we bid him adieu with fondness and with gratitude.
  Thinking back over the span of his career, I believe Vince Davis's 
mark on Kentucky and the world has been and always will be the enormous 
store of labor and love he poured into the Patterson School of 
Diplomacy and International Commerce. It's clear to me that Vince's 
tireless and inspired stewardship of the program has fashioned the 
Patterson School into the glimmering jewel of excellence for which it 
is now justly famous. Vince has given his all to the School, and two 
generations of bright young students have been immeasurably enriched by 
his exertions.
  Mr. President, there is an old Irish proverb that says, ``The work 
praises the man.'' In that spirit, each time I think of the Patterson 
School, I will remember Vince Davis, for the Patterson School is his 
work, and we all should praise that which he leaves as his legacy.
  Mr. President, I also ask that an article from the Lexington Herald 
Leader of Sunday, April 19, 1998, be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

            Teacher Praised for Years at UK Diplomacy School

                          (By Holly E. Stepp)

       For years, the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of 
     Diplomacy and International Commerce has urged the state's 
     residents--from the business community to average Joes--to 
     think globally.
       And one of the leaders behind that charge was retiring 
     professor and former director Vincent Davis.
       Last night, Davis, the Patterson Chair professor, was 
     honored for his dedication to that mission during a black-tie 
     dinner at Lexington's Wyndham Garden Hotel. More than 200 
     alumni and friends of the 39-year-old-school came out to 
     celebrate Davis' commitment to the program.
       His retirement becomes effective at the end of this 
     semester.
       ``With Vince's retirement, not just the Patterson School, 
     but the University of Kentucky, loses one of their academic 
     giants of the past half century,'' said current director John 
     D. Stempel.
       Davis, 67, was the school's second director for 22 years 
     after an active and reserve career in the U.S. Navy. He 
     receives much of the credit for building the school's 
     prestige as a world-class international relations program.
       ``Patterson School has a unique combination of superior 
     foreign-affairs training and related community outreach,'' 
     said David D. Newsom, former ambassador and adviser to the 
     Patterson School. Newsom, who was undersecretary of state 
     during the Carter administration, was the featured speaker.
       Although the Patterson School was founded in 1959, it was 
     the brainchild of UK's first president, James K. Patterson, 
     who served from 1878 to 1910.
       Patterson died in 1922 at the age of 89. In his will, he 
     ordered that his estate's assets go to the university for the 
     creation of such a school, with the proceeds invested for a 
     prolonged period before UK could gain the money.
       The school, Patterson also ordered, should be named in 
     honor of William Andrew Patterson, his son.
       Davis worked to build the program into one nationally known 
     for the quality of its graduates. Although enrollment is 
     limited to 25 to 30 students, the Patterson School is often 
     compared to similar but larger programs at prestigious 
     universities, such as Harvard and Princeton.
       Current and past students of the school praised Davis as an 
     interested mentor with a quick wit.
       Davis, himself, didn't dwell on the accolades bestowed on 
     him, including a $100,000 endowed trust to support Patterson 
     students' internships.
       ``All I have done is to work to carry on the great 
     tradition started by my predecessors,'' Davis said.
       On his retirement, he said he got a hint from a former 
     student a couple of months ago that it was time to retire.
       ``When your former graduate students start to retire, 
     perhaps it's wise to consider joining them.''

                          ____________________