The Purchase Independent

Kathryn Nasto
Copy Editor

As the semester comes to a close and preparations are made for the fall, the campus community will notice a very prominent absence. The absence I speak of is that of Professor Ronnie Scharfman, who is retiring this year after 30 years of teaching at SUNY Purchase.

During her time here, Professor Scharfman, professor of both French and Literature, has taught French language courses, Caribbean Literature, Jewish Texts, and Surrealism. She has also been actively involved in the Focus on French Film Festival that happens annually here at Purchase for the past five years, an idea that she helped to conceive with the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich. About her time working at Purchase, Professor Scharfman said, “I feel very lucky, even privileged to have been at Purchase. I have wonderful colleagues, many of whom are now friends, and with whom I’ve worked in an environment of cooperation and not competition.”

Many students who have had her have mentioned that her presence on campus will be missed and that the energy with with she teachers her subjects will be missed. They also feel that the caliber at which she presented herself both as a teacher and a person is one that you are unlikely to find anywhere else.
The love her students feel for her is also returned in her vast appreciation for the culture at Purchase. Also, the challenge her students have given her as a teacher is an experience she finds both satisfying and rewarding. “I have found many students to be unusual quirky, in a challenging and creative way and it’s been deeply rewarding opening the world of francophone and Jewish literatures that I love to young people who might not have been exposed to such a variety of amazing authors. Purchase is an unsual, creative place, despite its foibles and the economic difficulties of the State and the world. I hope it maintains that specialness in the face of all the challenges.”

However, with Professor Scharfman leaving, her absence means there are more spaces to the already somewhat small faculty for French language. This, plus the small numbers of students enrolled in French language classes, does worry and sadden Professor Scharfman as she prepares to leave. “I have watched our enrollments drop in French over the years – as they have elsewhere in the U.S. I can only hope that the college will push for a quality full-time Assistant Professor appointment in French, and put effort and support into helping more students study abroad for a year.”

This past week, on April 23, a conference was held to celebrate her retirement and to celebrate her work. It included presentations by various Professors from all over the country on the topic of Transnational, Diasporic and Postcolonial culture, a topic that Professor Scharfman specializes in. Her work and effort at Purchase has made such a strong contribution to the community and, as she wishes for Purchase, we all hope that she maintains that sense of specialness, as a teacher, in all her endeavors outside of Purchase.

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