Comments on: Arthur Power Dudden, 1921-2009

By: Women’s education, part II : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:32:11 +0000

[...] slipping deep into its “post-feminist” delusions. Like I said a few days ago: we were taken seriously, so we took ourselves seriously. We didn’t have the luxury of holding back in class discussions and letting men take the [...]

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:49:08 +0000

Well, at least I didn’t go into journalism! What a nightmare.

And, I should have included a h/t to you Indyanna, for putting me onto the obit above. I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told me, so I apologize for the lapse.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:03:44 +0000

Prof. Dudden was a mid-semester substitute instructor in a graduate course I took at BFU, when the about-to-go-emeritus professor, who had already been a president of the AHA, became seriously ill my (second?) year in graduate school. This was some years before he met Historiann. I don’t remember the hearing aid part but he seemed older then than the dates given above would suggest, but then, everyone seemed old to me then. Years later I got to substitute-teach a seminar in the same room–considerably mahoganized by that time with alumni donations–when the instructor of record became suddenly and seriously ill. It seemed both eerie and exhilarating at the time, the latter because the students were so much smarter than I remember having been at the same stage. Thanks for the memory tweak.

Historiann as an investigative journalist or a hard-hitting litigator. Hadn’t imagined that before now. I’m glad that history won out in the end, though.

By: Western Dave

Western Dave — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 02:27:08 +0000

Historiann,
The way you write about your students, I know you are looking to make connections with them. If they don’t take you up on it, that’s their problem. You’re not in a tri-college situation, but you do what you can. That’s all anyone can ask.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:54:27 +0000

I don’t know that I live up to that, Western Dave, but I certainly look for the sparkle in the eyes of those students who are doing the reading and are participating in the class discussions. I do think you’re right that moments like that are much liklier to happen in the SLAC environment, when students can take more than 1 or 2 seminars or smaller classes. (I think back on my college years, and I spent more time in seminars than I did in regular lecture classes.)

And thanks, Brian. I figured that my comment was pretty out of date by now!

By: Western Dave

Western Dave — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:50:08 +0000

And that also encapsulates the difference between the SLAC and the big college experience. As a freshman at Swat, my professors took me very seriously and thus I took myself seriously as a student. When I got to grad school, I saw so many TAs (and for that matter professors) who saw undergraduates as impediments to their professional lives. The one thing my students tell me is that they appreciate that I take them seriously. So thank you Jerry Wood, RIP many years now, for both taking me seriously and for kicking my ass on that first midterm in college. And thank you to Historiann and the professors everywhere who treat my HS students like budding scholars and people not simply consumers or impediments.

By: Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:29:17 +0000

Empires are often only loosely-knit alliances between central authorities and local elites who maintain a great deal of autonomy and control over their areas, but see enough benefit in the united empire to respect the rulers and send on a share of taxes.

By: GayProf

GayProf — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:34:06 +0000

This is a nice tribute. I often think of professors from my undergraduate years who took an interest in me. I hope that I can be as generous.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:53:20 +0000

Tom–that’s exactly the point I was making. Thanks for stating it more succinctly. We never really know who’s out there in our freshman- and sophomore-level courses. It behooves us to listen and take seriously the students who take their work in our courses seriously.

I believe my point about the Carolingian Empire was that “empire” was rather an anachronistic name for what was only a loosely-knit series of alliances. (And that’s about all I know about the Carolingians to this day! And it may not even be correct, for all I know.)

Had I decided to study Latin instead of Hebrew and French, I might have become a European medievalist. I might just yet in retirement. . .

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:35:30 +0000

Enquiring minds want to know: what _does_ Historiann think about the Carolingians? And Historian was a “Chatty Cathy”? I guess the doll thing comes to her honestly! But seriously, it’s a delight to be reminded that those who teach freshmen can make a real difference for students sometimes, though it’s always difficult to see such difference-makers leave us. Condolences, Historiann.