Dotterer Lectures

The Dotterer lectureship is part of the Ray H. Dotterer Memorial Fund, established in 1969 by John Dotterer and his sister Anna Mary Edwards in honor of their father. Ray H. Dotterer was a distinguished professor of philosophy at Penn State from 1918 until his retirement in 1947. The generous fund set up in his name established not only the Dotterer lectureship, but also a scholarship for academically superior philosophy majors. The endowment has enabled the philosophy department to host a number of renowned scholars over the years. Dotterer lecturers have spoken on topics ranging from the concept of equality between men and women that has been pursued by feminism during the past thirty years, to a lecture addressing the topic of emotions and law. Past Dotterer Lecturers were Jacques Derrida, Richard Rorty, and Cora Diamond, Christine m. Korgaard, Onora O’ Neill, and Hortense Spillers.

Further background information about the endowment:

John Dotterer, M.D., a 1934 graduate of Penn State, has given the University’s College of the Liberal Arts a gift of about $350,000 to increase the endowment of the Ray H. Dotterer Memorial Fund in the college’s Department of Philosophy. John Dotterer is the son of the late Ray H. Dotterer, a distinguished professor of philosophy at Penn State who served on the faculty from 1918 until his retirement in 1947.

Dotterer earned his bachelor’s degree at Franklin and Marshall in 1932, his master of science degree at Penn State in 1934, and his M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1938. For a few years before World War II, he operated a medical practice at the corner of Atherton Street and Nittany Avenue in State College, specializing in obstetrics and internal medicine. Then he left for Europe during World War II to set up the first military field hospital in Normandy. On returning, he married and set up a practice in Sanford, N.C., where he practiced for more than forty years.

In 1969, Dotterer and his sister, Anna Mary Edwards, established the Ray H. Dotterer fund with a gift of nearly $8,700. That sum established the Dotterer lectureship and a scholarship that recognizes academically superior fifth or sixth semester undergraduate students majoring in philosophy. When Dotterer retired from his medical practice in 1998, he decided he wanted to do more for Penn State.

Dotterer’s undergraduate career at Franklin and Marshall, while in mathematics, had a liberal arts core. His interest in the intellectual life of Penn State, and the urge to honor his father, led him to make the initial gift to the college. The success of the fund led to the gift that will substantially increase its effect.

“That Dr. Dotterer has chosen so dramatically to enhance the original Dotterer fund is both a wonderful gesture to his father’s memory and an important strengthening of our philosophy department,” said Susan Welch, former Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “His generous endowment will surely attract even more students to the important work in philosophy, as well as enable the department to increase the number of renowned scholars it can host for lectures each year.”

Over the years, Dotterer lecturers have spoken on topics ranging from a recent challenge to the concept of equality between men and women that has been pursued by feminism during the past fifty years, to a lecture addressing the topic of emotions and law.

Further, the scholarship portion of the endowment has helped numerous students pursue the study of philosophy. Each year, deserving students ranging from a father of two, back from Vietnam and at Penn State on the GI Bill, to a young woman with interests in feminist theory, public radio and rhetoric have benefited from the funds yielded by the initial endowment.