The bench honoring Yale English professor and president A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938-1989; B.A. 1960, Ph.D. 1964) is not the traditional teaching endowment, but a functional memorial, a semicircular seat inscribed with a quote to literally express Giamatti’s lifelong dedication to academics. The almost seamless twin sections of the Giamatti Benchrepresent the complementary character of the student/teacher relationship, and its variety of surface textures suggests that education is a process of refinement analogous to carving in its progression from rough to smooth and polished. Classmate and architect David Sellers designed the bench in collaboration with sculptor Jim Sardonis, and the twenty-ton black granite block displays the interest in rustic materials and natural forms that characterizes both men’s Vermont-based work. Gift of the Class of 1960 in 1990.

David Sellers (b. 1938; B.S. 1960, M.Arch. 1965) and James Sardonis (b. 1951)
Location: Old Campus