OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Professor William B. Husband taught at OSU for over three decades. Professor Husband received his Ph.D. from Princeton. His teaching focused on the History of Russia. His specialized courses included Soviet History through Film, Society in Modern Russia, Stalin and Stalinism, Sex in Soviet Russia, Science and Society in Modern Russia, Women in Russia, and Christianity in Russia. He was a visiting scholar at Moscow State University, the Russian State Humanities University, the former Leningrad State University, and the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research was supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Cotsen Library, the Oregon Council for the Humanities, and the Summer Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A native of El Paso, Professor Husband published on a wide variety of subjects, including Soviet perceptions of American foreign policy during the Cold War, Russian/Soviet children’s literature, peasant folkways, church-state relations in the USSR, civil society in Siberia in the 19th century, Russian factory conditions and labor relations, and the effect of glasnost on new textbooks for Soviet high school students in the 1980s. Before his passing in 2020, he published on Stalinist environmental policy and post-Soviet pornography.
"Godless Communists”: Atheism in State and Society in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932
(Northern Illinois University Press, 2000)
The Human Tradition in Modern Russia
(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000)
Revolution in the Factory: The Birth of the Soviet Textile Industry, 1917-1920
(Oxford University Press, 1990)
A professor of Religion at Oregon State and renowned scholar of Buddhist philosophy, he was integral to the establishment of contemplative studies activities at OSU. As an educator, Jim’s goal was to introduce his students to other cultures and traditions, in hopes that open-mindedness would lead to a more peaceful world and more self-awareness. He taught courses in Indian and Tibetan intellectual history, as well as contemporary and historical Buddhist philosophy. He brought Buddhism experts and luminaries into his classrooms, and his generosity of spirit made him an important and well-loved mentor to his students.
For over four decades, Paul Farber was a Professor of Modern Life Sciences and Intellectual History. His research examined the emergence of scientific disciplines such as ornithology, the naturalist tradition, and the development of evolutionary ethics. In addition, he promoted the use of history of science in teaching biology and held a joint appointment in the Department of Zoology.
Professor Farber studied zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh and then received a master’s (1968) and a doctoral (1970) degree in history and philosophy of science at Indiana University. He began teaching at Oregon State in 1970. His visiting appointments included the University of Washington, Cambridge University, and Imperial College (London). Professor Farber served on the Council of the History of Science Society and was its President, was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the History of Biology, and was Secretary of Section L (History and Philosophy of Science) of the AAAS for eight years.
In addition to his superb scholarship and exemplary teaching, Paul will be remembered for his warm mentoring of many graduate students and junior faculty, his easy and gentle laughter, his seemingly insatiable curiosity, his keen discernment in navigating OSU’s administration and advocating for the history department and the humanities, and his irrepressible optimism that buoyed us all.