For Retiring Professors, Intellectual Life Ahead

Crowded lecture bills and administrative hassles will be far from the mind of Professor of Korean Studies Edward W. Wagner '49 this summer as he begins an exploration of the history of the bureaucracy under Korea's 518-year Choson dynasty.

The project began 25 years ago, he said, and he and a colleague have catalogued the names of the 14,607 people who served as Choson officials. But "that's just scratching the surface," he said. He will explore "who these people were, where they lived," their marriage ties and influence on the ruling family.

Wagner will have plenty of time to dig deeper into Choson history, as he and eight other Faculty of Arts and Sciences colleagues retire at the end of this academic year.

Adams University Professor Bernard Bailyn, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature Wendell V. Clausen, Professor of Education and Social Structure Nathan Glazer and Rosen Professor of Music Donald J. Martino are all retiring.

Also retiring are Professor of Sociology Lee Rainwater, Professor of the History of Science Barbara G. Rosenkrantz '44, Leverett Professor of Physics Karl Strauch and Peabody Professor of American Archaeology and Ethnology Stephen Williams.

And while professors said the rest would do them good, they also expressed mixed feelings about their upcoming departure from the lecture halls and seminar rooms, if not the intellectual life, of Harvard.

Although all said they would miss contact with students, most said they were eagerly awaiting the chance to pursue research interests on hold, in Wagner's case, for as much as a quarter of a century.

"As you get more and more senior, administrative jobs fall your way," said Wagner, who looks forward also to spending more time on the flowers in his yard.

Strauch said he will miss his teaching duties.

"Like anything which you love to do, it's a little sad to leave it," he said. But he will continue his experimentation at the high energy particle collider in Geneva, Switzerland. "One misses the teaching, but as you get older, you can't do everything anymore," he said.

Clausen also said he regrets decreasing his contact with students, but his extra hours will go toward research on the Apollonius Odes of Homer as well as works of Virgil.

Williams, however, who has been at Harvard for almost 40 years, said he feels it is time for a change.

He looks forward to the free minutes rarely found by a professor who does not say "no" to administrative and teaching duties.

"I'm going to have to start having to use the n-word," he said.

His research will culminate in a planned book, entitled Yazzo Chronicles, on the entire history of the region of the Mississippi Delta made famous by William Faulkner.

It will be a "chronicle of the occupation of the area from 12,000 years ago until the present," he said

Clausen also said he regrets decreasing his contact with students, but his extra hours will go toward research on the Apollonius Odes of Homer as well as works of Virgil.

Williams, however, who has been at Harvard for almost 40 years, said he feels it is time for a change.

He looks forward to the free minutes rarely found by a professor who does not say "no" to administrative and teaching duties.

"I'm going to have to start having to use the n-word," he said.

His research will culminate in a planned book, entitled Yazzo Chronicles, on the entire history of the region of the Mississippi Delta made famous by William Faulkner.

It will be a "chronicle of the occupation of the area from 12,000 years ago until the present," he said