The College of Humanities’s 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award lecturer shared how you can expand your world, one adventure at a time.
As a freshman in high school, Associate Professor Spencer Scoville (Russian/Arab Literary Relations) took his first Russian class, and his understanding of the world expanded. Years later, following numerous trips to Russia and a full-time mission in eastern Ukraine, Scoville decided to take some Arabic classes as well, and, once again, his world got bigger—much bigger. At the College’s Distinguished Alumnus lecture on February 6, 2025, Scoville shared his personal experiences in the humanities and offered insights on the age-old question, “What will you do with humanities?”
Questions for the Dinner Table
From the time he was an undergrad all the way through his PhD program, Scoville recalled receiving constant questions about what he planned to do with degrees in Russian, Arabic, and comparative literature. Scoville explained that he didn’t always have an answer, but he loved what he was studying and wanted to keep going. “Some days I still have no idea what I’m going to do with [my studies],” he said. “But nothing has impacted my life, nothing has changed my life, and nothing has opened as many doors for me as my interaction with Russian literature, Russian language, and Russian culture over the years.”
Scoville’s study of language and literature continues to impact every facet of his life and has even given him once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to travel and work in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and even Damascus. “It’s all about human interaction: We study language so that we can talk to people, [and] we study literature so we can talk to people,” he says. “When people have actual experience with other people, it can trump their ideologies and stereotypes.” Scoville experienced this firsthand after his second trip to Russia, when he had some experiences that altered his worldview. He recalled, “I have some [journal] passages from the flight home from Russia, where I wrote, ‘I want my world to stay big, and I want it to get bigger.’”
From Passion Project to Lifestyle
Scoville encouraged students in the audience to make their studies personal to their interests and to keep them personal. “Nobody studies Russian here at BYU because it’s required,” he said. “Nobody studies Arabic here at BYU because they have to. You’re here because you’ve had certain experiences [or] maybe it was an impression. . . . Hold on to that impression.”
My world stays big because of the languages and the cultures and the experiences that have changed my heart and stay with me; and everywhere I go I get to carry that.
For Scoville, sticking with his humanities studies allowed him to become a professor and scholar of language and literature even though his degrees could have led him down many other paths. Ultimately, Scoville became a professor because he wanted to work in an area where his interests in Arabic, Russian, and comparative literature intersected. He said, “If you watch for ways that [your interests] come together in your life, you’ll be amazed at what you see. . . . It might open job opportunities, it might open opportunities for friendship, it might open opportunities for service, [or] it might just open opportunities to be a better person.”
By sticking to his passion despite any uncertainty, Scoville’s studies didn’t just stay in the classroom, they became part of him. He concluded, saying, “My world stays big because of the languages and the cultures and the experiences that have changed my heart and stay with me; and everywhere I go I get to carry that.”
Learn more about Spencer Scoville here!