Veteran professors Dennis Trout and John Brooke have both decided to leave Tufts for other institutions, citing the better resources at the other universities as reasons for their departures.
Trout, an associate professor of Classics, left Tufts over the summer for a position at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Brooke, who holds an endowed chair in the History department, will be leaving by 2002 for Ohio State University.
Among his reasons for departing, Trout mentioned the resources that the stronger and larger Classics department at the University of Missouri will provide.
"I wanted to be at a place where there was a Ph.D. program, where there would be a greater concentration of people from various disciplines with interests in my general field, and where I could more closely and consistently match my research and teaching," he said.
Trout called the Boston area both a blessing and a curse, saying that it provides a wealth of opportunities and connections with other schools but is a difficult place to live on a professor's salary. "The Boston area presents so many opportunities and such logistical problems that the campus too often felt to me like a "commuter" school where faculty show up, teach, and then go elsewhere," he said. "I think this may be the biggest challenge faced by the administration - attracting and retaining faculty with relatively scant resources."
Brooke said that while he loves Tufts, Ohio State offered him a package he could not refuse. He applauded the developments in Ohio State's History department, which he says will bring him further challenges and opportunities. He will receive increased research funds as well as better research facilities.
The departure of these two seasoned professors for bigger schools may add ongoing fuel to the discussion of whether Tufts does a good job in retaining its faculty. However, Dean of Natural and Social Sciences Susan Ernst said that the departure of these two professors is not representative of a larger problem with faculty retention. She cited the size of the institution and the excellent students as factors that attract professors to Tufts and said that retaining an excellent faculty is one of the top three priorities of the University.
Ernst also explained that the University will continue to lose and gain faculty as long as the market has a high demand for outstanding, reputable professors. "It is unrealistic for us or any university to think that every faculty member will spend their whole life here," said Ernst.
While Ernst admitted that several good professors were lost, she highlighted the talent in recent lateral hires. "I don't think overall we're losing," she said.
Both Brooke and Trout praised the academic atmosphere at Tufts and said that they are sorry to leave.
"These have been 18 pretty amazing years. I have a great community of friends and colleagues," Brooke said. "I'm not so much leaving Tufts as I am trying something new."
Trout explained how Tufts was always supportive of his research and teaching initiatives, including his opportunity to co-direct the "Writing Across the Curriculum" program and admitted that he will miss his friends and colleagues who supported him.
Acting Chair of the history department Gerald Gill said that Brooke's decision to leave was a personal one, but that his departure will be felt by the department. "One has to look at John for his scholarship," he said. "He will be sorely missed as a colleague, as a professor, and by all of us in the department who look at him as a friend."
Brooke has been teaching at Tufts since 1983. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 with a Ph.D. in history and taught at Amherst College for a year before coming to Tufts. His research focuses is on society, religion, and political culture in pre-modern America, specifically from 1607-1861. He teaches a sequence of three classes that cover the period from the founding of the US to the beginning of the Civil War as well as one of the History departments' most popular classes, "Time, Nature, and Humanity."
"It's kind of like boot camp for a lot of people," Brooke said of the class. "Time, Nature, and Humanity" is unique, as the themes of the course range from geology to human origins to pertinent issues today like sustainability and technology.
Brooke is the author of several publications, particularly the award winning "The Heart of the Commonwealth: Society and Political Culture in Worcester County, MA 1713-1861" and "The Refiner's Tale," which discusses the origins of the Mormons.
Trout came to Tufts in 1989 after receiving his Ph.D. From Duke University. He taught a wide range of both graduate and undergraduate courses at Tufts and specializes in history and literature of the late Antiquity. He is the author of Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems.
