Hillsdale College Recognizes Retiring Faculty

Three longtime Hillsdale College faculty members retired at the end of the 2014-2015 academic year: Professor of English Daniel Sundahl, Professor of French Ellen Justice-Templeton, and Professor of Politics Will Morrisey. They contributed a combined 89 years of service to the College.

Daniel Sundahl joined Hillsdale’s English faculty in 1983 after earning his Ph.D. from the University of Utah. A published poet with three small collections of verse (Loss of Habitat, Hiroshima Maidens: Imaginary Translations from the Japanese, and The Small Logics), he taught creative writing, the Great Books courses, surveys in American literature, and popular upper-level classes on a range of authors and subjects. His verse, essays, and book reviews appeared inSouthern Poetry Review, First Things, Commonwealth, Image Journal, and many other publications. Sundahl was instrumental in developing the College’s Visiting Writers Program, the American Studies Program, and the Dow Journalism Program. He and his wife, Ellen Donohoe, who retired from Hillsdale’s Institutional Advancement Department in 2013, have retired to South Carolina’s upcountry.

Ellen Justice-Templeton earned her bachelor’s degree in French and English from Hillsdale College in 1971. After earning her master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1972, she returned to teach French at Hillsdale and stayed for the next 43 years. She earned her Ph.D. in French language and Literature from the University of Michigan in 1980. From 1986 until her retirement, she served as chairwoman of the French Department. Although she taught every class with the same energy and enthusiasm, she most enjoyed teaching French literature courses of the 19th and 20th century with a particular interest in the works of Victor Hugo and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In April, she was recognized for her dedicated work with the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence. She and her husband, Professor Emeritus of English Gene Templeton, reside in Jonesville.

Will Morrisey, who held the William and Patricia LaMothe Chair in the U.S. Constitution, joined the Politics Department faculty in 2000. Holding degrees from Kenyon College and New School University, Morrisey has taught classes including “World Politics,” “Comparative Politics,” and Regimes: Classical and Modern.” In addition to his undergraduate courses, Morrisey also taught in Hillsdale’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship. He has authored numerous articles, and his book, Regime Change: What It Is and Why It Matters, offers an introduction to the study of politics, especially the political theory of Aristotle and Tocqueville. Morrisey will continue to live in Hillsdale and contribute to the Politics Department on a part-time basis.