University of Richmond Student Wins $25,000 for Question About Questions
March 20, 2003
"How do we know which questions to ask?"
That's the question Amy Robin Hoffman, a senior at the University of Richmond, submitted to the school's third Richmond Quest competition, which every other year looks for a compelling question the entire university community can explore through a series of specially developed lectures, programs and courses. The query and a 1,500-word accompanying essay won Hoffman, an English and women's studies double major from Cincinnati, Ohio, a $25,000 cash prize.
"Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living, and perhaps an unexamined question is not worth asking," her essay begins. "As the Richmond Quest approaches its third installment and students pose question after question, it seems like an appropriate time to consider the value of questions themselves."
As part of Hoffman's entry, one of 249 submitted by Richmond students and reviewed by a panel of judges, she asked, "Is the question as important as the answer? An intellectual quest founded upon a question has profound implications and possibilities for examining the utility and value of questions as such."
"The entries indicate that many students are taking this opportunity to ask questions of sufficient depth and breadth to engage the full range of our five academic schools here at Richmond in search of synergies among them," said University of Richmond President William E. Cooper. "Students enjoy opportunities to begin the educational process where it all begins-with a question. They have demonstrated by their questions and rationales that they are able to exercise their creative initiative in a way that will help shape aspects of our curriculum and special programming."
The question came to her in a "flash of inspiration at 2 a.m.," she said, after thinking about what she would ask for a long time. She also said she ironically is a person who is "more concerned with answers" than questions.
Hoffman is an Oldham Scholar, a recipient of the University of Richmond's most prestigious merit scholarship. She plans to use some of the Quest money to help pay for graduate school and to complete payments on her car.
Hoffman's question could be used as the basis for Quest courses on how preliminary decisions about which questions guide the course of scientific inquiry, how novels and other forms of literature ask questions about the human experience, and why doubts and questions are important in understanding religions.
Lectures and programs based on the winning Quest question will begin
fall 2003 and courses will begin spring 2004. As part of Hoffman's entry,
she included a number of suggestions for speakers and programs relating
to her question including:
- Lynn Margulis on her struggles to gain scientific recognition for
her answers to unorthodox questions about the evolution of the cell
and other biological mysteries
- A panel of College Board, Educational Testing Services and others on standardized testing
- Cameron Crowe, director and former writer for Rolling Stone, on interviewing
famous rock musicians and then moving his "questioning" to a different medium - Michael Frayn, Tony Award-winning author of the play, "Copenhagen," on his interest in the historical "what-if's" surrounding World War II
- Diane Ackerman, poet and writer, on the "'creative nonfiction' and the spirit of natural curiosity that pervades her works"
Approximately 200 students submitted 249 questions this year, a marked increase in submissions over the previous competition. Some themes that emerged were a general loss of innocence after the events of September 11, the relationship between power and ethics, how progress and success are defined, the role of education in society and the importance of accountability.
The current Quest topic centers on questions about change: "When does discovery inspire change?" "Why change?" and "What is the nature of discovery and change?" The first Quest question was, "Is truth in the eye of the beholder?"
Past Quest speakers at the university have included Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, political commentator Molly Ivins and comedienne Lily Tomlin. Since its founding, Richmond's Quest program has been emulated by a number of high schools and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad.
To view the winning Quest III entries, visit oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/quest/2003.