A Personal Reflection on the SMC life of Norbert Kuntz:

Norb's doctorate was from Michigan State where he did a dissertation on the Electoral Commission of 1877.  His research focused on the Civil War and Reconstruction period.  At the time of his death he was researching the drug problems of Vermont Civil War veterans who’d become addicted to morphine while in the war.  He started at SMC in 1969 and, together with Ed Pfeifer, helped initiate an American Studies program at the college.  Norb ran this program until his death and seems to have advised virtually all the AM majors who passed through it.  In the 1970s they were sometimes known as “Kuntzie’s Kids.”  Many students were very devoted to Norb.  I’m not sure if he ever turned away a student who wanted to take one of his classes (his surveys commonly would have 50-70 enrolled), and he spent countless extra hours tutoring students who needed more help.  He had a special soft spot for athletes.  Norb himself loved sports; at the time of his death he had finished training to be a referee.  I remember attending a soccer game in Shelburne where my step-son was playing that Norb refereed.  Norb was chair of the HI department for 18 years until his death.  He hired Frank Nicosia, Ke-wen Wang, and myself.  He was one of those faculty members who served on all the major committees and was always ready to serve in ad hoc capacities for the college.  When I was hired I remember a staff person in the HR office referring to Norb as “Mr. St. Michael’s.”  Norb was ebullient, fun to be around.  He loved jokes.  He was a wonderful teacher, mentor, and colleague.  While warm and supportive, Norb always insisted on high standards in the classroom.  He loved all kinds of history and always seemed interested in learning something new about it.  This is why it is so appropriate that we call our annual event the Kuntz Lecture.  No matter what the topic, I can imagine Norb  enjoying it.  Norb died just before Thanksgiving, 1989.  He had collapsed while jogging on the wooded trail behind the campus.  He was 48.  His passing left a great void in the department and at the college.  Sadly, for our current students, he is just a name attached to a history department lecture.  Those of us who knew him personally (and I think all the older members of the SMC community considered him a friend) know how lucky we were.

Doug Slaybaugh

The Annual Norbert A. Kuntz Memorial Lecture in History

P a s t      L e c t u r e r s :

DR. R. KEITH SCHOPPA, Doehler Chair in Asian History, Loyola College in Maryland - October 16, 2008

JAMES OVERFIELD, Emeritus Professor, University of Vermont - April 9, 2008

EDWARD OSOWSKI, Independent Scholar - October 13, 2006

Dr. PAUL E. JOHNSON, University of South Carolina, author: Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper - November 4, 2005

Dr. Alfred Andrea, Emeritus Professor, Department of History, University of Vermont - March 23, 2005

JAN ALBERS, author: Hands on the Lands: A History of the Vermont Landscape - October 21, 2003

EVAN BUKEY, Department of History, University of Arkansas - April 14, 2003

CHARLES T. WOOD, Professor Emeritus, Dartmouth College - November 10, 2000

ALTINA WALLER, Department of History, University of Connecticut, Storrs - March 31, 2000

BERNARD McGINN, University of Chicago Divinity School - March 19, 1999.

JEAN H. BAKER, Department of History, Goucher College - April 1998.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, writer; Pulitzer Prize finalist for his book Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father - October 1996.

AKIRA IRIYE, Department of History, Harvard University - October 1995.

FRAU FREYA von MOLTKE, widow of Helmut James von Moltke, one of the leaders in the Hitler assassination attempt (20 July 1944) - October 1994.

PETER HOFFMANN, Kingsford Professor of History, McGill University - October 1994.

JAMES MULDOON, former SMC History professor; Department of History, Rutgers University - April 1994.

RAYNA GREEN, Director of the American Indian Program, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution - September 1992.

LOUIS HARLAN, former President of the American Historical Association - October 1991.

These lectures were generously funded by the Sutherland Fund, the SMC Lecture Series, the Office of the Dean, Academic Affairs, and the Department of History and American Studies.

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