For the past several decades, Trumbull Professor of American History Donald H. Fleming has shepherded Harvard's instruction in intellectual history.
In the publish-or-perish world of academe, he is a bit of an iconoclast. Since being tenured at Harvard in 1959, Fleming has been less than prolific in his scholarship. And yet, he has remained in the classroom, teaching students nearly every year.
Most recently, in addition to graduate seminars, he taught Harvard's only course in modern European intellectual history. But Fleming,
took ill earlier this year and will retire later this spring.
"Donald was a stalwart of intellectual history for many years, and a big draw as a lecturer," says James Hankins, professor of history and a specialist in the Renaissance.
Fleming's departure from teaching was not unexpected. This year, he is 76 years old. For a while now, the department has sought to beef up its courses in intellectual history.
And newly hired Professor of History James Kloppenberg, a superstar scholar hired last year from Brandeis, may be intellectual history's anchor, according to other professors in the department.
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