Outgoing and vivacious, Professor of English Emeritus Blanche Gelfant hardly seems like she could be retired. Gelfant, who continues to lecture and write, recently won the Hubbel Medallion from the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association.
"I am active in the profession," she said, smiling. "I'm not tired."
Still enthusiastic about the field of literature, Gelfant last year released a new book titled, "Cross-Cultural Reckonings: A Triptych of Russian, Canadian and American Texts," published by Cambridge University Press.
Gelfant said she also chaired a panel in Vancouver, Canada last year, lectured in places ranging from California to New Zealand, and published three articles in literary journals.
Uninterested in discussing trivialities of her personal life, Gelfant said, "I like to work ... to write."
But she said she loved traveling to visit her family, which includes a son, a daughter and a grandson living in California.
"She's like a lot of people in this business," said her friend, English Professor William Spengemann. "Her work and her recreation are indistinguishable."
Committed to literature
Most comfortable when talking about literature, Gelfant said she focuses on modern literary criticism, especially regarding American fiction. She also studies feminist and Canadian literature.
It was her life-long commitment to American literary criticism that made Gelfant the 27th recipient of the Hubbel Medallion, Spengemann said.
The first tenured female professor of humanities at Dartmouth, Gelfant has had a career filled with honors, and Gelfant said she is delighted with the new addition to her collection.
Spengemann said receiving the medallion "confirms a general impression of people around the country that Dartmouth College is a real center for American literary studies."
"She makes us all look good," he added.
John Seelye, an English professor at the University of Florida, sat on the Hubbel Medallion committee that chose Gelfant. He said Gelfant is "a very intelligent woman" and praised her for "promoting women in literature."
"She has influenced the direction we've gone," Seelye said. He said her book, "The American City Novel," published in 1970 by the University of Oklahoma Press, is a "pioneering book" and highly regarded in the field.
Seelye said the award only goes to those who have distinguished themselves by devoting a lifetime to the study of American literature.
The Medallion was first given in 1964 to Jay Hubbell, for whom the medallion is named because of the instrumental role he played in establishing American literature as a professional field.
Spengemann said the award is given about once a year. Gelfant was the second woman to win the medallion.
The American Literature Section is a part of the Modern Language Association, an international association of professionals, which Spengemann called "huge."
Friendships with students
One of Gelfant's favorite aspects of being a professor has been meeting people and forming friendships, especially with students, she said.
"Students who have been in my classes 10 and 20 years ago still write, send pictures of their children and occasionally visit," she said.
Laughing, Gelfant related a story about one of her past students, Michael Chernuchin '75, who has co-written and co-produced episodes of "Law and Order" on NBC television.
In two episodes, Chernuchin included a character mentioning a favorite professor from "Brooklyn Law School" named "Blanche Gelfant."
Gelfant said she found the allusion both amusing and complimentary.
Gelfant told of another time when an alumna, Debbie Newman '78, came to visit Gelfant while she was teaching a class.
Showing up with her newborn child, Newman told the students in attendance, "When my baby was born, Professor Gelfant sent her a book. It was the first book associated with her that I didn't have to write a report on."
Before leaving the classroom, Newman encouraged the class by saying, "You can survive," Gelfant said.
One tough cookie
English Professor Gaylord confirmed Gelfant's reputation for having been a challenging professor.
"She was tough," Gaylord said. "She didn't like slackers."
Gaylord said he has known Gelfant the entire 21 years she has taught at Dartmouth. He grew to like and respect her, for her teaching and for her "great sense of humor," he said.
He also lauded Gelfant for teaching at the male-dominated Dartmouth of 25 years ago.
"There was very much a male shadow," he said. "She toughed it out ... she was herself."
Gelfant left her post as chair of Syracuse University's English department to become a professor at Dartmouth in 1972. She said she found it much more "male-oriented" than other institutions where she had taught.
"It was an entirely different environment," Gelfant said. "Nobody knew how to act. Some students had never seen a woman professor before."
Although she had to put up with some discrimination, Gelfant said she pushed ahead and enjoyed working at Dartmouth.
"I've done what I was supposed to do," she said. "I've tried to enhance the skills of students to enable them to see things when they look at a page that they wouldn't have seen before."
Gelfant often taught a course in contemporary American literature. She said she would sometimes invite interesting lecturers to the College, such as Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison.
When Gelfant retired in 1993, it was not by choice.
Gaylord said she was "not at all ready to retire."
Spengemann explained that the College used to have a mandatory policy that all professors retire at age 65. In 1988, the Supreme Court struck down all mandatory retirement requirements.
Shocked by the sudden changes, academic institutes negotiated a deal with the Supreme Court giving them five years to acclimate to the policy change, Spengemann said.
Gelfant turned 70 just before the 1993 deadline, so she had to retire. Spengemann said it was a very ironic circumstance because Gelfant was born Dec. 31, 1922, 30 minutes before midnight.
If she had been born a half hour later, she would not have been forced to retire, Spengemann said.
"It hadn't occurred to me that I would quit now," she said. "If that's the policy, that's the policy," she added with a shrug.
After her retirement following the 1992-1993 academic year, the College hired Gelfant to teach for two more years, she said.
Gelfant received her bachelor of arts degree from Brooklyn College and her masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
She taught at Queens College, the University of Southern California and at Syracuse University, where she became chair of the English department. In 1971, she came to Dartmouth as a visiting professor and returned in 1972 to become a permanent professor.
