Susan Jean Rosowski (January 2, 1942November 2, 2004) was a Western American scholar of literature and the works of

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...

Life and education

Rosowski was born on January 2, 1942, in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...

. She attended primary school in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, and obtained her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree at

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated in ...

, in 1967. She attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, receiving a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

degree in 1967 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1974. Rosowski was married to James (Jim) Rosowski, a biologist at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

(UNL). They had two sons, Scott and David. In 1967 she accepted a teaching appointment at the

University of Nebraska Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

, and in 1971 moved to UNL, where she taught courses in English literature, women's studies, women writers of the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, literature of the

Plains In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In ...

, and courses on Nebraska authors such as

Mari Sandoz Mari Susette Sandoz (May 11, 1896 – March 10, 1966) was a Nebraska novelist, biographer, lecturer, and teacher. She became one of the West's foremost writers, and wrote extensively about pioneer life and the Plains Indians.Bristow, Dav ...

and

. In 1973, Rosowski lost her left eye to

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

ocular melanoma Uveal melanoma is a type of eye cancer in the uvea of the eye. It is traditionally classed as originating in the iris, choroid, and ciliary body, but can also be divided into class I (low metastatic risk) and class II (high metastatic risk). Symp ...

. The cancer returned in 2001, and progressed, causing her death at the age of 62 on November 2, 2004, in

Garland, Nebraska Garland, formerly known as Germantown, is a village in Seward County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Lincoln, Nebraska Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 216 at the 2010 census. History In 1874, the Midland Pacific ...

. She had been a professor for twenty-two years at the time of her death.

Career of editing

As Rosowski's career developed, her work focused more and more on Cather. In the peak of her career, she published book reviews and participated in professional and community presentations most of which focused on Willa Cather numbered in the hundreds. Her 70 scholarly essays explored authors such as

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

William Congreve William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet of the Restoration period. He is known for his clever, satirical dialogue and influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. He was also a mi ...

Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and '' A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', publishe ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

, T.S.Eliot, and many writers of the American West, but she gave her scholarly attention to Willa Cather. She served as Director of the Cather Project and editor-in-chief of the Willa Cather Archive, both of which were housed at UNL, and also served as a general editor of the Cather Scholarly Edition, published by the

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Unive ...

. Following this, she served as director of five international seminars on Cather and editor of 18 volumes or journals, many of which were about Cather. Rosowski edited volumes of Modern Language Association's Approaches to Teaching Cather's book, My Antonia. She presented more than 100 scholarly papers and numerous speeches to communities primarily on Cather.

Books

* ''Birthing a Nation: Gender, Creativity, and the West in American Literature''. U of Nebraska Press, 1999. * ''The Voyage Perilous: Willa Cather's Romanticism''. U of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Awards

Rosowski received multiple teaching awards, as well as the Mildred Bennett Award from the Nebraska Center for the Book (1994); Honorary Nebraska Author by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association (1995–96); the Thomas J. Lyon Book Award for Outstanding Book in American Literary Criticism (2000); and the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award by the University of Nebraska (2004). The University of Nebraska created the Susan J. Rosowoski Professorship to honor her legacy and reward other professors for being like Susan.

Legacy

Due to Rosowski's numerous contributions to Western American and Willa Cather scholarship, she was rewarded her with an award honoring Rosowski and her contributions. The Western Literature Association has established the Susan J. Rosowski Award for Creative Mentoring and Teaching in Western American Literature. The Association of Teaching Cather is also planning a volume of essays honoring Rosowski's teachings. There is a professorship that gives an annual stipend to factulty for their excellence in research and teaching.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosowski, Susan J. Whittier College alumni University of Arizona alumni University of Nebraska faculty 1942 births 2004 deaths