In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Dorrit Cohn (1924-2012)

Dorrit Cohn, the Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature Emerita at Harvard University, died earlier this month. She was 87 years old.

Born in Vienna, she left Austria just days before the Nazis took over. She came to the United States in 1939 and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in comparative literature from Radcliffe College at Harvard University. She then studied comparative literature at Yale and many years later earned a Ph.D. in German at Stanford University.

Dr. Cohn began her academic career at Indiana University in 1964 and came to Harvard in 1971. Before she arrived at Harvard, only four women had ever been awarded tenure in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Professor Cohn retired from teaching at Harvard in 1995.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

Latest News

Jennifer L. Burris Named President of Buffalo State University

0
Dr. Burris has served as provost of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina for the past four years. She is slated to become the next president of SUNY's Buffalo State University on July 1.

Lisa Thompson Named President of Union Theological Seminary

0
Dr. Thompson's appointment marks a return to Union Theological Seminary, where she previously taught for three years. Most recently, she was the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Black Homiletics & Liturgics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Five Women Selected to Lead Academic Professional Organizations

0
Julie Sanford of the University of Alabama, Eileen Boris of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Itohan Osayimwese of Brown University, Jane Grant-Kels of the University of Connecticut, and Rani Sullivan of Mississippi State University have been appointed to leadership positions with professional organizations in their academic fields of study.

Sylvia Torti Appointed President of Westminster University in Salt Lake City

0
For the past two years, Dr. Torti has served as president of the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Earlier, she was dean of the Honors College at the University of Utah.

Staci Martin Named Sole Finalist for Presidency of Kilgore College in Texas

0
Dr. Martin has led Kilgore College on an interim basis since November 2025. She has been an administrator with the community college for the past 25 years.

Latest Job Listings

Research Assistant Professor, Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics

0
The selected candidate should have expertise and experience in theoretical models in labor and public economics as well as in microeconometrics and programming.

Director, School of Music

0
The University of Arizona School of Music seeks a visionary and collaborative Director to lead its comprehensive music program through a time of opportunity and transformation.

Assistant Professor, Clinician Educator track, in the Division of Genomic Diagnostics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

0
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seek candidates for an Assistant Professor position in the non-tenure clinician educator track.