Faculty Award for Service 2014

The Whitman College Alumni Association Faculty Award for Service is given yearly to a faculty member who has distinguished himself/herself in service to the Alumni Association. Although this service may take any number of forms, the underlying theme involves strengthening and maintaining ties between the College and its alumni. Examples of service include participation in alumni gatherings, both on and off campus, and assistance in the planning/implementation of alumni events.

Recipient for 2014 is Theresa DiPasquale

For the past seven years, Theresa DiPasquale, Gregory M. Cowan Professor in English Language and Literature and Chair, Department of English, has played a major role in one of the oldest Continuing Education programs sponsored by the Alumni Association. Each August, she makes the annual trek to Ashland, Oregon, where she meets a group of alumni, parents and friends who spend time seeing plays, then discussing, dissecting and debating plays late into the night, getting very little sleep. Her weekend lectures have included “Family Drama: Domestic Relationships in Shakespeare’s England”, “What a Farce!”, “Plots and the Play of Ambiguity”, “Shakespeare in the Flesh” and “Power Plays.”

In 2010, Theresa flew across the Pacific Ocean to Honolulu where she led a post-play discussion after attending a performance of “Julius Caesar.” And this past March, during spring break, she traveled to New York with the Garrett-Sherwood scholars visiting alumni, giving a lecture and leading a post-play discussion. Since volunteering on behalf of the Alumni Association, she has spent more than 30 days on the road and traveled more than 20,000 miles.

For Theresa’s extensive knowledge and passion for the works of Shakespeare, her enthusiastic support of Whitman In Ashland and her willingness to travel in any direction for our programs, the Alumni Association is pleased to bestow upon her the Faculty Award for Service.