麻豆影院

Grace Fleming van Sweringen Baur chaired the University of Colorado Department of Germanic Languages from 1909 to 1930, when her sudden death ended her tireless service. Hoping to immortalize his wife and her legacy, her grieving husband endowed a scholarship in her name.

But other events overshadowed the van Sweringen Baur legacy and scholarship. During World War II, enrollment in German courses plummeted, and CU regents even considered eliminating the department. For many years, the scholarship was not awarded. And 鈥淕lory Colorado,鈥� the听de factohistory of the university, devotes only one paragraph to her.

Fate can, however, change course. While researching her family genealogy, a niece of van Sweringen Baur discovered that her family鈥檚 ancestor was part of an interesting generation who blazed new trails in her own life.

鈥淲hen I discovered she had taught in Istanbul in the 1890s, I became interested in learning more about her life,鈥� notes Jeanne Baur, who calls van Sweringen Baur 鈥淎unt Grace.鈥� Baur, a research librarian by training, learned of the scholarship that had lain fallow for decades. And she and her husband, Tom, decided to revive it.

As observers note, their generosity supports students of today and honors a pioneer of yesterday.

Van Sweringen Baur succeeded Mary Rippon as chair of the Department of Germanic Languages. Rippon is comparatively well-known, remembered as CU鈥檚 second faculty member, its first woman faculty member and a civilizing influence on a young, remote university.

鈥淗er letters of recommendation were among the best I have ever seen,鈥� Rippon said after learning of van Sweringen Baur鈥檚 death. 鈥淪he has made a great success of the work that I loved so well, and I am greatly grieved to hear of her death.鈥�

鈥淭his is a woman who grew up in West Virginia and moved to Council Bluffs Iowa,鈥� Baur notes. Her rural roots didn鈥檛 dampen her appetite for travel, learning and teaching.

After graduating high school in 1889 in Iowa, she went to Cornell University, where she earned her first degree. She spent four years teaching English in Washington state, after which she became a student at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

In 1898, she began a two-year stint as a professor of English at the American College for Girls in what was then Constantinople, Turkey.

She did graduate studies at the University of Berlin, becoming the first woman at that institution to teach English. In 1904, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Berlin. Her diploma was signed by Max Planck, the eminent German physicist.

Before joining the CU faculty in 1909, van Sweringen Baur was a professor at two other colleges. Here, she became the second woman to lead a department at CU.

Here, she met her husband-to-be, William Baur, also a professor of German. They married at the home of George Norlin, the beloved president after whom the main university library is named.

And here, she met Antoinette Bigelow, dean of women. Together they led a movement to prod CU to add more women to the predominantly male faculty. Efforts to correct that imbalance continue to this day.

Van Sweringen Baur caused 鈥渟ome concern among male faculty鈥� because she came with a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, notes 鈥淲omen Too at CU,鈥� a book by Therese Stengel Westermeier, which discusses pivotal female figures here.

In a lecture to female students, Westermeier reports, van Sweringen Baur offered this advice: 鈥淎 woman may be intelligent and sparkling with interest, but in these days, she must also know how to keep her gown spotless.鈥�

Van Sweringen Baur later became 鈥渋nfuriated鈥� when she learned that her husband, who did not have a Ph.D., received a higher salary than she did, Westermeier notes. (Jeanne Baur says this episode became immortalized in family lore.)

In March 1930, she died at the age of 64. According to the Colorado Alumnus, she was at home on University Hill, sitting on a lounge in the early evening, talking to her husband 鈥渨hen the end came.鈥� The cause was cerebral hemorrhage. Though a doctor was summoned, nothing could be done.

She was cremated and her ashes spread over the 麻豆影院 foothills. In life, she never took a leave of absence from the university and was described of being 鈥渃apable of great mental work, and she worked almost incessantly.鈥�

C.C. Eckhardt, professor of history, said she was a gracious personality, a kindly, friendly adviser who frequently helped students attain 鈥渞enewed courage and clarified judgment.鈥�

An expert in the hero sagas of Germanic peoples, van Sweringen published many articles in scholarly journals.

鈥淏ut she was more than teacher, scholar, counselor, administrator,鈥� Eckhardt wrote. 鈥淪he was a broad humanitarian, interested in and aiding all constructive, forward-looking movements. She believed thoroughly in the unity of mankind and labored courageously and constantly for the dawn of the era when strife will be replaced by cooperation, when hatred and suspicion will give way to friendship.鈥�

Van Sweringen Baur and her husband sponsored and funded the 麻豆影院 Music Society, which brought 鈥済reat musicians to the city鈥� for more than a decade, the Daily Camera reported.

After her death, William Baur established the Grace van Sweringen Baur Scholarship for graduate students in German. After William Baur鈥檚 death in 1939, the Camera reported that because the scholarship was endowed, 鈥渋t will continue as before.鈥�

For whatever reason, it did not continue as before.

Jeanne Baur was struck by the life van Sweringen led. She and her husband, Tom, who earned his master鈥檚 in physics at CU, decided to contribute funds each year to renew the scholarship.

鈥淲e feel all education is important, and if someone chooses German over physics, that鈥檚 as important as any other subject,鈥� Baur says.

Jeanne and Tom Baur chose to continue awarding the scholarship to graduate students. 鈥淭hese are hard-working people who don鈥檛 have a lot of resources, and they do an amazing job with what they have.鈥�

Ann Schmiesing, associate professor and chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, notes that the scholarship honors one of the department鈥檚 most gifted professors.

鈥淎 few years ago, our program received a letter from one of the scholarship鈥檚 early recipients鈥攁 professor emeritus of German literature who cited his receipt of the Grace van Sweringen Baur Scholarship, in 1935, as the reason he was able to pursue graduate studies in German,鈥� Schmiesing recalls. 鈥淭he scholarship changed his career, and he in turn gave back to the university by creating a scholarship bequest of his own for CU.鈥�

That is one reason Schmiesing appreciates the generosity of Tom and Jeanne Baur. 鈥淭he Baurs鈥� restarting of the scholarship bridges the achievements of Grace van Sweringen Baur with the academic promise of today鈥檚 graduate students.鈥�

As William E. Davis notes in 鈥淕lory Colorado,鈥� a great number of Ph.D.s who came to CU in the first decade of the 20^th听century held degrees from foreign universities, mostly German: 鈥淢any of these scholar-teachers had traveled widely in Europe. What brought them to 麻豆影院? What kept those who stayed?鈥�

Perhaps, Davis surmises, it was the opportunity to help build a great university.

Jeanne Baur suggests that her great aunt, who also studied and traveled in Europe, hoped to help the university flourish, figuratively and literally. During her research, for instance, Jeanne Baur found that women in CU鈥檚 early years planted trees on University Hill. Today, when she walks through campus, 鈥淚 say, 鈥楯ust think, Aunt Grace might have planted those trees.鈥欌��

Today, Baur sees support of education as necessary sowing for a new and critically important harvest.

For more information on the Grace van Sweringen Baur Scholarship or other scholarships, contact T.J. Rapoport, associate director of development鈥╝t the CU Foundation, at 3O3-541-1455 ortj.rapoport@cufund.org.听