Thursday, November 15, 2007
Writer: Shanna Relford
news@utsi.edu
The University of Space Institute will hold a ceremony on
Wednesday, Nov. 28 to officially dedicate the university’s library
in honor of Mrs. Helen Mason, UTSI’s first librarian, and the late
Dr. Arthur Mason, a founding faculty member.
In May 1964, while a research assistant in the Physics Department at
UT Knoxville, Dr. Arthur Mason accepted an offer to join UTSI in
September as assistant professor of physics. He had married Helen
Burnette, executive secretary of the Physics Department earlier that
year. Dr. Mason was the third faculty member specifically chosen for
UTSI, which held the first classes on Sept. 24, 1964, in spaces
provided by AEDC until the Institute was built.
Soon after the Institute opened, the first director, the late Dr.
B.H. Goethert, persuaded Helen Mason to serve as the Institute’s
first librarian, and she assembled the first books in the back
bedroom of their Manchester home for about three to six months. The
library relocated to the UTSI campus in 1966. The approximately 160
periodicals and 1,000 books were transferred to the prison-made
shelves in office space in C-wing, while the main library space was
still a construction site. The library moved to its present location
in the early l980s upon the completion of new wings. Mrs. Mason held
the position of librarian until retiring in 1987.
Dr. Mason retired from UTSI on May 31, 1995, after a long career
that included serving in various positions including Director of
Academic Programs and Assistant and Associate Dean of the Space
Institute. Dr. Mason, a World War II naval aviator and founding
faculty member of The University of Tennessee Space Institute, died
Aug. 22, 2006 after a season of illness.
The dedication ceremony for this couple who have meant so much to
UTSI will begin at 4 p.m. on Nov. 28 in UTSI’s conference room,
H-111, to be immediately followed by a reception in the Helen and
Arthur Mason Library. The public is invited to attend, but please
RSVP to UTSI Librarian Emily Moore at (931) 393-7316 or
emoore@utsi.edu.
ARTHUR AND HELEN MASON
