For three decades, the Feit Interdisciplinary Seminar Program has enriched the Baruch undergraduate experience. Endowed by the late Charles Feit (’48), the seminar-style courses bring together a select group of students—no more than 20 per class—and two or more faculty members from different departments to explore important themes and issues not ordinarily covered in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences curriculum.
Beloved by students—an estimated 1,500 have taken them—the seminars are forums for creativity and intellectual daring. (Example: The Spring 2016 lineup is “Outlaw Nation: Pirates, Slaves, Witches and Others in the Revolutionary Atlantic” and “Jazz: Cultural Touchstone of the 20th Century.”) For Professor of English Michael E. Staub, the third director in the program’s history (the two prior were Professors Myrna Chase and Paula Berggren), “The intimate and intense intellectual environment that the Feit Seminars provide represents an especially precious and valuable opportunity not only for our students but also for our faculty.”
On Oct. 15, the College celebrated this program and honored Mrs. Hedwig (Hedy) Feit, who has faithfully and generously continued her husband’s legacy since his unexpected death in 1993. Speaking for the entire community, Staub says, “I know and respect Hedy immensely and am deeply appreciative of all the wonderful and courageous work she has done on behalf of our undergraduates.”
Not an alumna, Mrs. Feit has also established her own legacies at Baruch: In honor of her son, she created the Paul André Feit Fund, which sponsors Latin American-, Latino-, and Caribbean-focused lectures, field trips, and students events; and, for almost a decade, she has taught at Baruch as an adjunct professor. Mrs. Feit characterizes her attachment to Baruch as “a relationship forever.”
—Diane Harrigan