Prof. Emeritus Frank E. Reynolds, who died on Jan. 9 at age 88, was a leading expert in Theravada Buddhism, a religion predominantly practiced in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. He is remembered not only for his lasting impact on the field, but for his work as a teacher and mentor during his 34 years on the UChicago faculty.
Miguel Civil, the world’s leading expert in the earliest known written language, died on Jan. 13 at age 92. The scholar at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute was described as understanding Sumerian better than anyone since the beginning of the second millennium B.C.
Division of the Humanities Deputy Dean and Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature Eric Slauter discusses the history of solitude in America in a recent BackStory podcast. He contends yearning for solitude is integral to American culture and provides examples from Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison.
Through his interdisciplinary approach to analyzing the work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, David E. Wellbery has transformed scholarly understanding of a pivotal cultural period in Europe surrounding the dawn of the 19th century. In recognition of his groundbreaking research, Wellbery will receive the Golden Goethe Medal from the Goethe Society on June 13, 2019, at the National Theater in Weimar, Germany. “During the last decades David Wellbery’s scholarship has transformed our understanding of Goethe’s work in fundamental ways,” said Daniel Diermeier, Provost at the University of Chicago. “The Golden Goethe Medal is a wonderful recognition of his seminal contribution.”