This year he is the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Distinguished Visiting Professor in Contemporary Art in Penn's History of Art Department. A native of Belgium who lives in Brussels, de Duve was invited to hold the chair this year and accepted.
This is his first-ever visit/stay to Philadelphia, which meant he'd have to overcome the biggest obstacle facing many visiting professors--housing.
"I was fortunate in that regard," he says. A departmental secretary recommended him to PFSNI (Penn Faculty and Staff for Neighborhood Issues) and after contacting its members through the Internet, Thierry learned that a University City resident was off to California this year. He then arranged to sublet that person's apartment for his time at Penn.
Thierry de Duve in his office at Penn.
This particular job requires visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Nice work if you can get it--and Thierry de Duve did.
De Duve is a noted scholar on Marcel Duchamp, considered one of the most provocative artists of the 20th century. He's no novice when it comes to visiting professorships--he has held such posts at the Sorbonne, MIT and Johns Hopkins University, and has held fellowships at the Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
He says he hasn't had a chance to explore Philadelphia, but appreciates Penn's location. "I've been at other schools in America that are in isolated, remote parts of the country," he says. "Here there are restaurants all around, and the Museum of Art. It's quite nice."
There are about 30 "visiting faculty" at Penn this year, either on invited fellowships or chairs or at the invitation of individual departments. Bringing additional faculty can give departments flexibility in course offerings.
De Duve is an established scholar in modern art, and gave the Art History program the opportunity to offer more classes.
"Elliot Jaffe sincerely and earnestly believes that every undergraduate student should take a course in the history of art," says David Brownlee, professor and graduate chair in the History of Art department.
Brownlee, too, has done his share of "visiting." Seven years ago he accepted a senior fellowship at the National Gallery of Art. It was, he says, a great opportunity for research. On the other hand, "furnished apartments are difficult to find in the American Capitol," he says. He also commuted to Philadelphia on weekends.
Next year, he'll be a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center at the Smithsonian. Instead of looking (again) for a furnished dwelling, he's considering taking his sailboat down to Chesapeake Bay, docking it and living there on the Potomac.
Fellowships, he notes, are a good way to get energized, and "get research done without having to serve on 117 different committees." But many factors have to be taken into consideration.
One such factor is school age children. Brownlee and his wife have no children, and de Duve's children are grown, so that wasn't a concern for them. But it was for History Professor Bruce Kuklick, who has three young children (including twins). He was first invited to teach at the Katholic University in Leuven, Belgium in 1992. It was an election year, and Katholic University wanted him to explain to its students just exactly what it is Americans do--or not do--when choosing a chief executive. But he had to consider his children's interests.
"My kids loved it," says Kuklick, who enrolled them in one of several private schools for visiting American scholars and business people in Belgium. The twins were seven and his other child eight the first time he went there, and they accompanied him again when he was there last fall.
"They've learned some French and Dutch," says Kuklick.
While it can be exciting living in a new place for a time, there are things to miss while away. "There isn't much baseball in Belgium," Kuklick said, but added, "there's a lot of soccer."
Law professor Geoffrey Hazard, one of the most recognized scholars in the field of legal ethics, was approached by the Dean of the College of Law at the University of in Tucson.
The Dean, who is an old friend of Hazard's, asked him if he'd teach there. Sure, said Hazard, under these circumstances: The school would find him a furnished apartment, and he'd come out to teach only in the spring. Also, he said his wife would have to accompany him. She works as his assistant, so "we're a package deal," says Hazard, who has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Stanford and Michigan.
Deal, said the Dean, and now the Hazards are enjoying a warm and sunny climate.
However, it appears Hazard did make at least one concession when he went to Arizona.
"It's tough to find a good Philadelphia cheesesteak, but you also can't find a cloud in the sky in January and February," he says.
Return to Compass Features for April 1, 1997