Fritz Stern
- See also Wikipedia's article about "Fritz Stern".
Fritz Stern CC '46 PhD '53, now retired, was a University Professor and twice Provost. His teaching and research interests included 19th and 20th century Germany and Europe.
While a student at the College, Stern was friends with Allen Ginsberg. The two served as debate partners on the College Debate Council, of which Stern was president. They also founded the Roosevelt for President club together in 1944. Ginsberg also persuaded Stern to take classes with Lionel Trilling and Jacques Barzun, which Stern found "humbling and life-transforming". He quit his pre-med track and became a history major, reporting on current affairs for the then-college radio station CURC.
After staying on to complete his graduate studies in history, Stern was named a full professor in 1963. He was named to the Seth Low Professor of History chair in 1967, served as provost of the Arts and Sciences from 1980 to 1983 (and again as acting provost in 1989), and was appointed a University Professor in 1992.
In 1994, he was Columbia College's Class Day speaker. Stern has been honored with the Great Teacher Award, the Lionel Trilling Book Award and the Mark Van Doren Award.
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| Preceded by Michael I. Sovern |
Provost (Arts and Sciences) 1980-1983 |
Succeeded by Robert F. Goldberger |
| Preceded by Robert F. Goldberger |
Provost (acting) 1989 |
Succeeded by Jonathan R. Cole |
| Preceded by ? |
Columbia College Class Day Speaker 1994 |
Succeeded by Tom Brokaw |
