Raymond Kierstead

Raymond Kierstead, Richard F. Scholz Professor of History, is a relative newcomer to Reed, having joined the faculty in 1978. He received his B.A. from Bowdoin College in 1956 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1959 and 1964. Before coming to Reed, he taught at Yale University, the University of Texas-Austin and, the Catholic University of America. At Reed he has taught courses in early modern French history with a special interest in social and cultural history, and he has been an integral part of the Reed humanities program. In 1993 he was named the third Richard F. Scholz Professor of History, a chair held previously by Rex Arragon and Richard Jones.

Kierstead has been commit-ted to pursuing excellence in scholarship at Reed both in and beyond the undergraduate classroom. He served on the educational mission and goals committee for two years, served for many years on the old Faculty Advisory Committee and the new Community Advisory Team, and was director of the 1993 Alumni College. In 1996-97 he was on the faculty-student team that launched 110Tech, a pilot project that incorporated information technology into the Humanities 110 program through development of a web site.

Kierstead's love of teaching revolves around the belief that the acquisition of knowledge is part of becoming a civilized being and a thoughtful citizen. "Reed students are demanding," he once noted. "They have expectations, and making your teaching meaningful for them makes your own life exciting. We have an environment here where that can happen."






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