The Suffolk University Oral History Project is a collection of interviews of university faculty, staff and alumni that provide a more personal look at the history of the institution and the individuals who have helped shape Suffolk into the university it is today. Interviewees include: university founder Gleason Leonard Archer; long-time staff and faculty members such as Dottie "Mac" McNamara, Coach Nelson and Patricia "Pat" Brown; alumni, and faculty panel discussions.
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Oral History Interview with Richard Torrisi (SOH-079 video recording and transcript)
Richard C. Torrisi and Kathryn R. Kilbride
Richard Torrisi, Professor Emeritus of Finance and International Business, discusses his background, early academic career, and then his teaching and administrative roles at Suffolk University. He discusses his scholarship in economics and international business, including his Fulbright appointments in Poland and Slovakia. Professor Torrisi talks about the programs he helped develop in the Sawyer Business School, including travel seminars and creating partnerships locally and globally to contribute to the student experience. He concludes the interview discussing Suffolk’s role, reputation, and the direction in which he hopes it the university will continue.
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Oral History Interview with Margaret Collins Weitz (SOH-045)
Margaret Collins Weitz, Tessa White, and Patrick Riordan
Margaret Collins Weitz, professor emerita and former chair of Suffolk University’s Humanities and Modern Languages Department, discusses her non-traditional path into academia, her research, and her career at Suffolk. She begins with a description of her experiences growing up as child during the Great Depression and her Fulbright experiences in France which inspired her seminal research into women in the French Resistance. Dr. Weitz describes her campus involvement which ranged from reshaping her department and its educational offerings, supporting students from all backgrounds, to convening international conferences at Suffolk. She discusses the university’s dramatic growth, demographic changes, and the creation of international campuses in Madrid, Spain and Dakar, Senegal. The interview concludes with a discussion of Weitz’s post-retirement career, including several notable recognitions she received from the French government for her scholarship related to France and French women.
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Oral History Interview with Kenneth Williams (SOH-010)
Kenneth Williams and David L. Robbins
Kenneth Williams, an alumnus of Suffolk University Law School’s class of 1927, discusses his career at Suffolk including his working relationship with Hiram and Gleason Archer during the earliest years of the school. He reflects on his experiences as a student, the development of the school, his tenure as a faculty member and member of the university’s Review Department from 1928-1958, Hiram and Gleason Archer’s relationship, and how Suffolk differed from other law schools by encouraging anyone, from any circumstances, to study there.