Ann Cook Calhoun, professor of English emerita at Vanderbilt University, died on August 13 in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 82 years old.
Dr. Calhoun joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University in 1977. When she was promoted and granted tenure in 1982, she became the first woman in the English department at the university to earn tenure after being promoted through the ranks. Professor Calhoun was promoted to full professor in 1990. She was director of undergraduate studies and the English Honors Program.
Dr. Calhoun was the author of The Privileged Playgoers of Shakespeare’s London, 1576-1642 (Princeton University Press, 2014) and Making a Match: Courtship in Shakespeare and His Society (Princeton University Press, 2014).
Professor Calhoun held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma. She earned a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Calhoun retired from teaching in 1998.
I am saddened to hear of Ann’s passing. I just found a lovely note that she wrote to me in 1982, a few years after a trip we both took through an Int’l Group to the USSR. I appreciated her good humor and our discussions over the course of travel and for a few years, I recall reaching out to her. My good fortune to have known her. Writing notes is a skill set not often shared in the 21st century. It was a sense of surprise and joy to have the actual handwritten words from her; most especially now that I find she’s passed on.
Sincerest sympathy to her daughers and family.
Jeanne K. Cosmos
Boston, MA