Richard C. Harris


Professor Richard C. Harris

John J. McMullen Professor of Humanities/Assistant Dean/Director of Humanities

 

Education

Ph.D. in English, UNC-Chapel Hill (1974)

M.A. in English, UNC-Chapel Hill (1968)

A.B. in English with Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, UNCโ€”Chapel Hill (1967)

 

Back to Faculty

Assistant Dean (Sept. 2007-present)

Coordinatorโ€”Webb Assessment Program for MSCHE (1995-present)

Directorโ€”Humanities Program (1996-present)

Coordinatorโ€”Webb Lecture Series (1997-2009)

Coordinatorโ€”Zeien Lecture Series (2000-2020)

Faculty Secretary (1997-2001)

Numerous committee chairmanships and memberships

  • Professor, Humanities Department, SUNY-Maritime College (1975 – 1996)
  • Adjunct Professor, English Department, Hofstra University (1974 – 1975)
  • TA/Instructor, English Department, UNC-Chapel Hill (1970 – 1973)
  • Instructor, English Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1968-1970)
  • Technical Communication
  • American History
  • Western Literature
  • Western Culture I and II
  • Professional Presentations
  • Creative Writing
  • History of Architecture
  • Social History of Rock and Roll
  • Introduction to Classic Films

Publications:

  • Forthcoming: โ€œCather, Sassoon, and the Church of St. Ouen.โ€ Willa Cather Review (Spring 2020).
  • โ€œCatherโ€™s โ€˜Doomedโ€™ Novel: One of Ours and the Chivalric Tradition.โ€ Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Spring 2017).
  • โ€œClaude Wheelerโ€™s Visit to the Church of St. Ouen.โ€ Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Spring 2017).
  • โ€œThe Great War.โ€ Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Spring 2017).
  • โ€œWilla Cather, Howard Pyle, and โ€˜The Precious Message of Romance.'” Cather Studies, vol. 11 (U of Nebraska P, 2017).
  • ย Willa Cather and the Art of โ€˜Recoverable Contexts.'” The Willaย Catherย Newsletter and Review (Winter 2015).
  • โ€œThackerayโ€™s Henry Esmond and The Virginians: Literary Sources for Catherโ€™sย My Mortal Enemy.” Cather Studies, vol. 10 (U of Nebraska P, 2015).
  • “Dear Alfred’/’Dear Miss Cather’: Willa Cather and Alfred Knopf, 1920-1947.” Studies in the Novel. Special Number: The Work of Willa Cather: Creation, Design, and Reception (Fall 2013).
  • “Onย the Title for One of Ours.โ€ย  The Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Spring 2013).
  • “Willa Cather and One of Ours.โ€ The Literary Encyclopedia. 2013.
  • “Cather, Edward Burne-Jones, and the Art of Enchantment.โ€ The Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Fall-Winter 2012).
  • โ€œWilla Cather and Henry Blake Fuller: More Building Blocks for The Professorโ€™s House.โ€ย Willa Cather and Modern Cultures.ย  Cather Studies, vol. 9 (U of Nebraska P, 2011).
  • โ€œThe Newly Discovered Cather-Alfred A. Knopf Correspondence and One of Ours.โ€ย  Feature article, The Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Spring 2011).
  • โ€œPershingโ€™s Crusaders:ย  G. P. Cather, Claude Wheeler, and the AEF Soldier in France.โ€ Willa Cather: A Writerโ€™s Worlds, Cather Studies, vol. 8 (U of Nebraska P, 2010).
  • โ€œWagnerian References in the Fiction of Willa Cather.โ€ Outside the Ring: Wagnerโ€™s Non-Ring Operas (McFarland, Fall 2009).
  • โ€œโ€˜Happy Birthday, Dear and Noble Artistโ€™:ย  Willa Cather, Yehudi Menuhin, and the Schubert Letters.โ€ย Willa Cather: New Facts, New Glimpses, Revisions. (Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2008).
  • โ€œCatherโ€™s A Lost Lady and Schubertโ€™s Die schรถne Mรผllerin.โ€ The Willa Cather Newsletter and Review (Fall 2007).
  • โ€œOver There from Over Here: Willa Cather, the Implied Reader, and One of Ours,โ€ inย Violence, the Arts, and Willa Cather (Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2007).
  • โ€œBarbusseโ€™s Lโ€™enfer: A Source for โ€˜Aphroditeโ€™ and โ€˜The Novel Dรฉmeublรฉ.โ€™โ€ Willa Cather as Cultural Icon.ย  Cather Studies, vol. 7: (U of Nebraska P, 2007).
  • ย Volume Editor for The Scholarly Edition of Willa Catherโ€™s One of Ours (U of Nebraska P, 2006).
  • ย โ€œGetting Claude Over There: Sources for Book Four of Catherโ€™s One of Ours.โ€ Feature article, Journal of Narrative Theory (Fall 2005).

 

Papers and Presentations:

  • โ€œCather, Sassoon, and the Church of St. Ouen.โ€ Presented at the Western Literature Association 2019 Annual Meeting. Estes Park, CO.ย  September 2019.
  • โ€œMen of Bronze: The Harlem Hellfighters of World War I.โ€ North Shore Historical Museum.ย  Glen Cove, NY.ย  September 2018.
  • โ€œClaude Wheeler and Willa Cather Go to Church; A Close Reading of the St. Ouen Passage in One of Ours.โ€ 16th International Willa Cather Seminar. Duquesne University. Pittsburgh; June 2017.
  • “The Election of 1840: Our First ‘Modern’ Election.” North Shore Historical Museum, Glen Cove, NY. December 2016.
  • โ€œThe Bronx: The Original Webb Site.โ€ Presented at the Webb Homecoming May 2016.
  • “Willa Cather’s ‘Doomed Novel’ : One of Ours and the Chivalric Tradition.” Plenary presentation at the Willa Cather Spring Conference, Red Cloud, NE ; June 2016.
  • “Willa Cather and the Visual Arts.” Panel presentation at the 15th International Willa Cather Seminar. Lincoln, NE; June 2015.
  • “World War I:ย Reality and Disillusionment.โ€ย  North Shore Historical Museum.ย  Glen Cove, NY; September 2014.
  • “Willaย Cather and the Art of โ€˜Recoverable Contextsโ€™: Source Materials for One of Ours.โ€ ย Willa Cather Symposium. Rome; June 2014.
  • “The Remarkable Mr. Webb.โ€ย  Presented on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of Webb Institute. Glen Cove, NY; May 2014.
  • “Willaย Cather, Howard Pyle, and โ€˜The Precious Message of Romance.โ€™โ€ย  Panel presentation at the 27th Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists, sponsored by the School of Visual Arts. New York, NY; October 2013.
  • “Willaย Cather, Howard Pyle, and โ€˜The Precious Message of Romance.โ€™โ€ย  Plenary presentation at the 14th International Willa Cather Seminar. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ; June 2013.
  • โ€œCather, Edward Burne-Jones, and the Art of Enchantment.โ€ย  Presented at the Willa Cather Spring Conferenceโ€”Willa Cather and April Twilights. Red Cloud, NE; June 2012.
  • โ€œThackerayโ€™s Henry Esmond and The Virginians: Literary Sources for Catherโ€™s My Mortal Enemy.โ€ย  Plenary presentation at the 13th International Willa Cather Seminar. Smith College, Northampton, MA; June 2011.
  • Panelist and Presenter at the 2011 Willa Cather Spring Conferenceโ€”Cather and Popular Culture.ย  Red Cloud, NE; April 2011.
  • โ€œThe Cather-Knopf Correspondence, 1921-1923.โ€ Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Literature Association. Prescott, AZ; October 2010.
  • Panelist and Presenter at the 2010 Willa Cather Spring Conferenceโ€”Food and Drink in Catherโ€™s Fiction. Red Cloud, NE; June 2010.
  • โ€œWilla Catherโ€™s War: The Use of Journalistic Sources in One of Ours.โ€ย  Presented at the 23rdย Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists.ย  The School of Visual Arts.ย  New York; October 2009.
  • โ€œWilla Cather and Henry Blake Fuller: More Building Blocks for The Professorโ€™s House.โ€ย  Presented at the 12thย International Willa Cather Seminar.ย  Chicago; June 2009.
  • โ€œCather and Her Contemporaries: The Critical Debate over One of Ours.โ€ย  Keynote address at the 2008 Willa Cather Spring Conference. Red Cloud, NE; June 2008.
  • โ€œElementary, My Dear Watson: Cather Scholarship and the New York Times Historical Index.โ€ย  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Literature Association. Tacoma, WA; October 2007.
  • โ€œโ€™Pershingโ€™s Crusadersโ€™: G. P. Cather and the American Expeditionary Force in France.โ€ย  Plenary session paper presented at the 11thย International Willa Cather Seminar 2007; The Sorbonne, Paris; June 2007.
  • โ€œOne Little Fellerโ€™s Quest for โ€˜Something Splendidโ€™: Another Look at Catherโ€™s Claude Wheeler.โ€ย  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Literature Association. Boise, ID; October 2006.
  • ย โ€œCatherโ€™s A Lost Lady and Schubertโ€™s Die schรถne Mรผllerin.โ€ย  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Literature Association. San Francisco, CA; May 2006.
  • โ€œโ€™Happy Birthday, Dear and Noble Artistโ€™: Willa Cather, Yehudi Menuhin, and the Schubert Letters.โ€ย  Presented at the Cather Colloquium, Drew University; September 2005.
  • โ€œOver There from Over Here: Willa Cather, the Implied Reader, and One of Ours.โ€ย  Plenary session paper presented at the 10thย International Willa Cather Seminar; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; June 2005.
  • Attended Middle States Town Hall Meeting on revised standards and schedules; Philadelphia, October 2016.
  • Attended Middle States workshop โ€œStandard 14 in Characteristics of Excellence.โ€ University of Delaware; Newark, DE, 2007
  • Attended Middle States workshop โ€œTaking the Next Step.โ€ University of Delaware; Newark, DE, 2007
  • Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (In Gratitude for Your Efforts to Preserve and Propagate the History of the 369th U.S. Army Infantry Regiment, Also Known as the โ€œHarlem Hellfighters,โ€ 2019
  • Named John J. McMullen Professor of Humanities, 2007
  • Named a Distinguished Scholar, Inaugural Willa Cather Scholarโ€™s Summit, 2004
  • Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History for edition of Memorandum of a Jaunt: Peter S. Townsend and the New York Lyceum of Natural History, May-June 1817, 2002
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Western Literature Association
  • Assistant Dean, 1996-present
  • Director of Humanities Program, 1996-present
  • Coordinator of Assessment, 1996-present
  • Coordinator, Exchange Program with the University of Southampton, UK, 2008-present
  • Coordinator, Zeien Lecture Series, 2000-present
  • Faculty Coordinator, Annual Founderโ€™s Day Event
  • Faculty Coordinator, โ€œMidnightโ€ Breakfasts
  • Author/Editor: Webb Guide for Submitted Work, Webb Guide to the Senior Year (Junior Year), Webb Guide to the Senior Thesis (Senor Year)
  • Co-Editor: Webb News
  • Adviser to students on resumes and letters of inquiry/application for jobs
  • Committee Memberships and Chairmanships
    • Admissions Committee
    • Curriculum Committee
    • International Programs Exchange Committee
    • Faculty Honor Committee
    • Library Committee
    • Thesis Committee
    • Faculty Search Committee
    • Fine Arts Committee