Professor Richard Gillam, American Studies Program Coordinator, Retires

This commencement is a bittersweet one for American Studies, for this year Dick Gillam, a faculty coordinator of the program, retires after 30 years of teaching at Stanford, 29 of them as a moving force in American Studies. For 29 years, Dick has helped American Studies students think more deeply about our country’s past and present in unique and wonderful ways. One  former student wrote in a commemorative scrapbook we presented a few weeks ago, “It's rare to find a mentor who is both inspirational and kind ” “Thank you,” another wrote “for your commitment to a better world and to preparing generations of students to take on the heavy and honored work of bending the arc of justice towards now.”  Dick’s truly distinguished teaching has been recognized by a Gores Award, and an ASSU Teaching Award. Please join us in applauding his commitment to helping his students learn how to think and grow and push the boundaries of their knowledge and the scope of their compassion to become their best selves --  for 29 extraordinary years.