Winthrop Masters Say 10th Year Is Their Last

Winthrop House Master Paul D. Hanson and his wife, Co-Master Cynthia Rosenberger, announced at a House meeting Tuesday that they will be stepping down at the end of this year to focus on teaching.

“We’ve had a wonderful period here,” said Hanson, who is Lamont professor of divinity. “It’s time to allow this wonderful part of our career to come to an end.”

Hanson and Rosenberger have served as Winthrop Masters for nine years.

They previously served as Masters of Dudley House, the only non-residential House, which is open to both graduate students and undergraduates living off-campus.

A professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Hanson will continue teaching at Harvard.

Rosenberger will continue teaching early childhood education at the UMass-Amherst.

“I plan on putting all of my energy into teaching,” Hanson said.

Rosenberger was unavailable for comment.

Hanson said he and Rosenberger have worked over the past nine years to instill a “tradition of informality, warmth, lack of pretension and inclusivity.”

Looking back on his time at Winthrop, Hanson said he remembered both the good times and the hard times. He recalled an event three years ago at Thropstock, Winthrop House’s spring festival, when students encouraged him to take on his wife in a sumo wrestling match.

But the most significant moment he could recall was last year on Sept. 11.

“I opened my doors,” he said, “and the students poured in.”

Several Winthrop residents and staff members said they would miss the pair, expressing appreciation of the Masters’ accessibility, kindness and energy.

Hanson cited the last as a major motivation behind his and Rosenberger’s decision to step down.

“It has been a long time,” Hanson said. “Mastering takes a lot of energy.”

Hanson recently voiced a controversial opinion in favor of the University divesting itself from Israel, but he says his ideological disagreement with University President Lawrence H. Summers—a vocal supporter of Israel—is not the reason he is departing. Hanson said he and Rosenberger had been planning to give up their posts for about a year.

Jennifer E. Kavanagh ’03, co-president of the Winthrop House Committee, said Hanson and Rosenberger were instrumental in establishing a positive atmosphere and personality that would remain in their absence.

“They really established the importance of respect for the community and other students,” Kavanagh said.

Winthrop Senior Tutor Courtney B. Lamberth said the duo’s presence will be missed.

“Paul has more energy and more of a giving spirit than anyone I’ve worked with,” Lamberth said. “And Cynthia is really the heart of the House—she really puts the students at ease.”

Hanson said he was confident that Lamberth and the other House tutors would carry on easily.

“Courtney is the absolute epitome of an ideal senior tutor,” Hanson said. “Without Cynthia and me it will be the same Winthrop House with the same values.”

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 said he was grateful to Hanson and Rosenberger for their years of service and hard work at the helm of both Dudley and Winthrop.

“I do want to stress [their] service to two Houses, which is really a lot more work than being in the same House for the same period of time,” Lewis wrote in an e-mail.

He added he will begin work on finding a successor soon. The process will involve the input of both Summers and an in-House committee.

—Staff writer Steven N. Jacobs can be reached at snjacobs@fas.harvard.edu.