Commemorating the Life of Tom Clayton
The department announces with great sorrow the loss of emeritus professor Tom Clayton. Tom was a distinguished scholar and valued colleague who garnered multiple awards for both his teaching and research (e.g. two Morse teaching awards, a Guggenheim, and a Regents Professorship). His primary research area was Shakespeare; he began this work as a Rhodes Scholar under Dame Helen Gardner and received his PhD from Oxford. He subsequently left an Assistant Professorship at Yale to return to Minnesota, his undergraduate alma mater, and took a position in the English department, where his lectures were (in the words of English and CNRC alum Dan Hooley) “an exceeding rich whirlwind of ideas”.
For CNRC, he was above all the instigator (founder seems too tame a word) and energetic presence behind the undergraduate Classical Civilization program, which shepherded generations of students through an interdisciplinary exploration of Classical literature and its later reception. The program was demanding, engaging, and tailored to each student under Tom’s benign aegis. We will miss his brilliant, warm presence.
By Professor Nita Krevans
Read a full biography by our friends in the English Department.
The Department of English will be hosting a memorial celebration to be held at the West Wing Dining Room in Coffman Memorial Union the first week of October. Please email sutt0063@umn.edu for details.
