Doug Slovenkay
Contributing Writer
The Voice interviewed four faculty members whose time at Wooster comes to a close at the end of this academic year.
After 57 years at the College, professor Ron Hustwit is set to retire after the close of the spring semester. Hustwit is one of the longest-tenured faculty members in the College’s history.
Hustwit was hired to begin teaching philosophy at Wooster in 1967. In his time at the College, he has become a well-loved member of the philosophy roundtable and representative of what it means to yearn for knowledge. In 2007, the College established the Ron E. Hustwit Prize in Philosophy in his honor.
He credits many for enabling his longevity, including his mentor upon arriving at the College, the distinguished philosopher Alburey Castell who taught at Wooster from 1963 to 1974. Hustwit credits Castell for helping him learn how to teach. It was Castell who inspired him to delve deeper into literature, the sciences and anthropology in order to ensure that he possessed a well-rounded education. Hustwit credits these lessons as allowing him to spend over half a century in the College’s philosophy department.
The community, the job and the school tethered Hustwit to Wooster. “I was so fortunate to land here,” he said. He elaborated to say that he was enriched by having a variety of opportunities at Wooster, citing opportunities to teach Greek, coach cross country and instruct interdisciplinary classes. Hustwit feels that he would not have had these opportunities at other institutions.
Looking forward to retirement, Hustwit said that he’s retiring from the College, not from being a philosopher; “you don’t retire from philosophy,” he said. He enjoys engaging academically and writing with others and is eager to continue to do so as he enters this next chapter of his life.
Following a 43 year tenure as a member of the faculty here at Wooster, where he served as the Lewis M. and Marian Senter Nixon Professor of Natural Sciences and Geology, the time has come for Mark Wilson to prepare for a life post-Wooster.
Wilson began teaching at the College in 1981, three years after his graduation from Wooster. He was 24 years old and frequently mistaken for a student. To combat this and attempt to appear older, he began to don neckties. The garment quickly became an integral component of his wardrobe, even today.
“Every school day for four decades I taught an 8 a.m. class at Wooster,” Wilson said. “I will miss that early morning rush as I met my students to begin our day of learning. Each student had invested precious time for [the] class, trusting me to make it worthwhile.”
While Wilson is not yet sure of what precisely the future holds for him, he is eager to spend time with his wife, children and newborn grandson. He hopes to continue to pursue his academic interests by carrying on with his paleontological research endeavors and possibly volunteering at a museum or historical site.
Tom Prendergast began teaching in the English department at Wooster 27 years ago. During his nearly three decade tenure, he has emerged as a respected leader on campus, currently serving as the Department Chair for both the English and comparative literature departments.
“I’ve taught in a big university setting where class sizes are a lot bigger [and it] was very difficult to have any kind of personal relationships with the students,” Prendergast said. “At research institutions, often research takes primacy, and then some of the [other] liberal arts colleges focus completely on teaching. I just think that Wooster has a really nice balance.”
Prendergast discussed his experience mentoring first-years during first-year seminars and then teaching several of those same students throughout the remainder of their four-year journey at Wooster. “It was just really great to walk into a classroom and realize, ‘oh, over half the class has been here before,’” Prendergast said. “It’s a very comfortable way to teach.”
For students currently studying within his “home base” department of English, Prendergast advises patience, noting that the skills attained by alumni of the department have proven successful across a vast array of professions. Speaking more generally, he advises all undergraduates to branch out from their comfort zones: “Take a lot of different classes in a lot of different departments because it’s really the last time you’re going to be able to do it.”
Upon retiring, Prendergast plans to move to Washington, D.C. with his wife, Maria Prendergast, a professor emeritus at the College. He is eager to delve further into his academic interests, particularly within his specialization in medievalism. Additionally, he hopes to delve deeper into topics he has offered as elective classes at the College, such as noir and horror films.
Prendergast wishes to leave us with the following piece of parting wisdom: “Keep Wooster weird.”
Professor Friedman has served the College in a myriad of capacities since her arrival in 2004. Friedman currently serves as the Lincoln Professor of Religion and a professor of history. She is actively the department chair of history as well as Middle Eastern and North African Studies.For more information on Friedman and all that she has accomplished throughout her storied Wooster tenure, see our feature on her in last week’s edition of the Voice by Stuart Franklin, ’26.
