Nannerl O. Keohane : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Nannerl O. Keohane, a distinguished political scientist and former president of Wellesley College and Duke University, discusses her early life in the south; her undergraduate and graduate education at Wellesley, Oxford, and Yale; her faculty positions at Swarthmore and Stanford; and highlights of her career in university administration. Topics include her approach to teaching, her research on seventeenth-century French political thought, balancing work and family, the Center for Research on Women (CROW), and the founding of the Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford.
- Summary
- Moving around the southern United States (Arkansas, Texas, South Carolina) • Minister father • Mother’s role as a minister’s wife and mother • Mother’s later career in academia • Youth rooted in Christian faith and values of inclusiveness and tolerance • Jim Crow era • Childhood interests and memories • Influence of high school history teacher • Decision to attend Wellesley College • Introduction to political philosophy and Dante Germino • Attending an all-women’s college • Choir at Wellesley • 1950s social life and dating • Marshall scholarship to study at Oxford • Civil rights movement • Interview for Marshall scholarship, including a sexist opening question • St. Anne’s College at Oxford • Differences between British and American colleges • Wellesley thesis on Plato’s Republic • First marriage to fellow Marshall scholar Patrick Henry • PhD at Yale in political philosophy • Lack of women faculty and students at Yale • Support and misogyny at Yale • PhD dissertation on the concept of democratic monarchy created by Le Marquis René Louis d’Argenson • Following husband to Swarthmore, despite her own job offers elsewhere • Teaching at Swarthmore College • 1960s anti-Vietnam War feeling • Navigating gender discrimination on the Swarthmore faculty • Meeting second husband Robert Keohane at Swarthmore • An egalitarian marriage • Family planning and the pill • Balancing work and family • Help from mother-in-law, Mary Pieters Keohane • Memories of raising children • Arrival at Stanford in 1973 • Teaching undergraduate students in political theory • Knight journalism fellows at Stanford • First impressions of Stanford campus • Path from instructor to tenure track assistant professor • Political theory at Stanford • Charles Drekmeier • Working with other political theorists in the Bay Area • Faculty wives: Dorothea Almond and Phyllis Craig • Political Science Department • Research expectations of faculty at Stanford vs. at Swarthmore • Writing book while a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences • Stanford Faculty Senate • Beginnings of Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford • Debates about Western Culture program in the Stanford curriculum • Center for Research on Women (CROW) • Women faculty at Stanford • CROW and Feminist Studies • Women’s studies vs. feminist studies • Studying gender in academia • Feminist Studies curriculum at Stanford • Women’s issues in the 1970s • Pioneering women faculty at Stanford: Myra Strober, Estelle Freedman, Diane Middlebrook, and Shelly Rosaldo • Signs journal editing • Balancing children with a career • Siblings Geneva Overholser and Arthur Overholser • Teaching at Stanford • Knight journalism fellows • Likes and dislikes of teaching • Differences in teaching lecture courses vs. seminars • Things she hopes students took away from her teaching • Gendered reactions to her teaching • Intersections of feminism and political theory • Developing Feminist Studies courses • Research on French political theory • Changes in research interests over time • Researching and writing Philosophy and the State in France • Writing on other topics • Political theory in France during the seventeenth century • Changes over time at Stanford • Recruitment to the presidency of Wellesley College and decision to leave Stanford • Wellesley as women’s college and feminist institution • Return to Wellesley as president •. Transition to administration in higher education • Responsibilities as a college president • Managing personnel • Fundraising responsibilities as president and her first fundraising call, a visit to Dorothy Johnson Towne • Some early missteps • Protests at Wellesley over divestment in South Africa • Protests at Duke University over sweatshops • Transition from Wellesley to Duke • Differences between Wellesley and Duke: medicine, athletics, and deans • Being Duke’s first woman president • Efforts to increase diversity of Duke student body • Greek system at Duke • Women’s Initiative at Duke, including expanded daycare facilities • Baldwin Scholars Program at Duke for women students • Reactions to 9/11 at Duke • Induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame • Purpose of higher education • Lessons learned from working in administrative roles and thoughts about power • Transition to Princeton University • Harvard Corporation and dealing with criticism • Reflections on Stanford and career
Description
| Type of resource | sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 2 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | May 10, 2018 - 2018-05-18 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Keohane, Nannerl O., 1940- | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Keohane, Nannerl O., 1940- | |
| Interviewer | Anderson, Benjamin | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Keohane, Nannerl O., 1940- |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Political Science |
| Subject | Wellesley College |
| Subject | Duke University. Office of the President |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile |
Nan Keohane is a political philosopher who served as president of Wellesley College (1981-1993) and Duke University (1993-2004). She is a Visiting Scholar at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics for the winter and spring quarters 2018.
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| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/fr151kh6983 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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