Dennis Meenan, Class of ’54, Third Century Professor of English, Emerita
1991–2024
“I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.”
That quote from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights could be repurposed to describe the experience of taking one of your courses.
As a distinguished feminist scholar and novelist whose own reimagining of Wuthering Heights has been praised as “absorbing, convincing, and historically sensitive,” you bring to the classroom an authoritative voice on British literature, women narrators in novels and many other topics. You also exude compassion, warmth and spirit. The combination of the two has altered the color of many minds for the better.
Whether in a seminar on poetry and politics, a tutorial on sonnets or courses on important women writers, your gentle, generous guidance helps students become expert readers. Keen observers who argue with acumen. Persuasive essayists who communicate with clarity and style.
Those accomplishments are important enough, and certainly at the heart of what we do here. But generations of Williams alumni say they are—because of you—not just better scholars, but better people.
I hereby declare you the Dennis Meenan, Class of ’54, Third Century Professor of English, Emerita, entitled to all the rights, honors and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 2, 2024