A career distinguished by service

"She exemplifies the College's tradition of service, and we are very pleased to honor her."

Carol Hoffecker, Richards Professor of History, has earned many honors in her 30 years on the University faculty, but she says receiving the College of Arts and Science's first Distinguished Lifetime Service Award last fall always will remain a special memory.

"It was like Carol Hoffecker Day, and I was very touched," she says of the events held in her honor during Homecoming weekend. The festivities included a pregame reception, hosted by the College and attended by many of her former students, her high school history teacher and countless friends.

The award was presented that evening at a black-tie dinner with distinguished guests, including John Munroe, H. Rodney Sharp Professor Emeritus of History and Hoffecker's mentor since her undergraduate days. Also attending were members of the Richards family, for whom her professorship is named. Those included U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jane Richards Roth, her husband, former U.S. Sen. William Roth, and her brother, Robert H. Richards III.

In a spontaneous tribute to Hoffecker, person after person rose and spoke about her during the evening.

Mark Huddleston, dean of the College, noted that Hoffecker's upcoming retirement this year "marks the passing of an era. Not only are the University and the state of Delaware losing our chronicler, but the University community will greatly miss the person to whom we've all turned for leadership in a pinch. She exemplifies the College's tradition of service, and we are very pleased to honor her."

 

To many, Hoffecker is the quintessential Delawarean. A native of the state, she is a graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School and UD and has made the First State and the University the focus of her research and writing.

After graduating from UD in 1960, with the encouragement of Munroe and the late UD Prof. Eve Clift, Hoffecker attended graduate school at Radcliffe College and Harvard University. She later headed the fellowship program at Hagley Museum and taught at the University before joining the faculty full time in 1973.

As she gets ready to retire this year, Hoffecker says that one of the most important aspects of her career has been service to the University. She has worked in many capacities over the years, including as president of the Faculty Senate in the early 1980s, chairperson of the history department from 1983-88 and associate provost for graduate studies from 1988 until June 1995, when she returned to her research and writing.

Then, she recalls, "I naively made a suggestion at a meeting on freshman education," and found herself chairing the ad hoc Faculty Senate Committee on General Education.

"It was a big responsibility chairing the committee, which represented all the colleges, while still teaching and writing, but I take pride in what was accomplished," she says. "Our goal was for students not just to check off a list of required courses but to learn about and to take advantage of all that the University had to offer and to become educated persons."

The books she has written "are the part of you that stays behind," she says. Hers reflect the breadth of her interests: Wilmington, Delaware, Portrait of an Industrial City: 1830-1900; Brandywine Village, Corporate Capital: Wilmington in the 20th Century; Delaware: A Bicentennial History; Beneath Thy Guiding Hand: A History of Women at the University of Delaware; Familiar Relations: The du Ponts and the University of Delaware; Honest John Williams: U.S. Senator from Delaware; Federal Justice in the First State; and, for school-age children, Delaware, The First State, among others.

Now, the time has come to "ratchet down," Hoffecker says. "I want to read books for enjoyment, travel and garden and make way for the next generation."

--Sue Moncure