Word: masten
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Being safely situated out-side Harvard, I feel at liberty to comment on a couple of suggestions made by English department chair Leo Damrosch in regard to the University's recent failure to tenure Prof. Jeffrey Masten. According to the Crimson's Dec. 10 article on the case, Damrosch speculates that Harvard must stint on granting tenure to English literature Faculty because the department is small, presumably meaning that it can accommodate only a choice few in its senior ranks. I have heard this argument before, and I am as bemused by it now as I was when...
Damrosch further suggests that Harvard cannot take the chance of tenuring someone of Jeff Masten's relatively young age, but it seems to me entirely debatable which constitutes the greater risk in a lifetime appointment: the young but widely respected scholar who shows ever indication of continued intellectual growth over the long term, or the scholar recognized as a mature authority in a given field who resists new modes of working in or thinking about that field. Harvard does boast a number of senior Faculty who continue to be vital and innovative in their teaching and scholarship. Nevertheless, its anomalous...
...have some historical perspective on the controversy surrounding English professor Jeffrey Masten's denial of tenure which may interest others in our community...
...expect to receive my third Harvard degree in June. My point here is this: very few people say "no" to Harvard. No one is going to withhold their check because a junior professor has to leave. Only if this situation began to change, would scholars like Jeffrey Masten have the chance to continue to grace Harvard with their talents. --Maria C. Sanchez '90, M.A. '93 TF and Tutor in English
Calling Northwestern's English department "intellectually vibrant," Masten said he is happy to be teaching there...