Former Social Studies Director of Studies Judy Vichniac died on October 22nd, 2019.
Judy received her Ph.D. from the Harvard Government Department, under the Direction of Social Studies Founders Stanley Hoffmann and Barrington Moore as well as Peter Lange. She started teaching in Social Studies as a graduate student and served in the program until 2001, including as Head Tutor from 1984-1989 and Director of Studies from 1989-2001.
Judy is remembered as an outstanding teacher, advisor, and community builder. Princeton Professor Melissa Lane, Social Studies ’88, wrote in a piece for our “Alumni Voices” that “Judy equipped us with an understanding of the basic structural tensions in social life – and at the same time, she modeled for us a way to live with those tensions, to navigate through them and to integrate them, in order to make sense of society, of history, and of ourselves.”
Current Director of Studies Anya Bassett remembers Judy as a role model and a mentor who generously continued to provide her with wisdom and counsel long after she had departed to become the Founding Director of the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program.
We are all grateful for Judy’s life and legacy to Social Studies.