Life history interview conducted by Janice Dilg.
September 30, 2015Location: Center for the Humanities, Oregon State University.
David Robinson (b. 1947) was a member of the OSU English faculty from 1976 to his retirement in 2016, and held the Oregon Professorship in English - the OSU College of Liberal Arts' first endowed chair - from its inception in 1991. Recognized internationally as an authority on American Transcendentalist authors, Robinson has written numerous books on Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, among other nineteenth century American writers and philosophers. For fifteen years Robinson also directed the OSU Center for the Humanities, an institute dedicated to improving the vitality and quality of humanities teaching and research at Oregon State. His interview focuses on his personal scholarly evolution; his memories of significant change within the OSU English department; and his perspective on the broader advancement of the humanities over a forty year career at OSU.