George Rupp, PhD ’72, and Nancy Rupp
Type of planned gift: Bequest
About George and Nancy Rupp
George Rupp, PhD ’72, is known for his long and illustrious career in academia and nonprofit leadership. As Dean of Harvard Divinity School from 1979 until 1985, George was instrumental in revising the Divinity School’s curriculum to more directly address the need for a pluralistic course of study to prepare students for a multireligious world—a shift that became a core part of HDS’s identity.
George has spoken of HDS exerting a kind of “magnetic field” that has drawn him and his family back to campus time and again throughout his career. After receiving his doctorate in theology from Harvard, he served as Vice Chancellor of Johnston College in the University of Redlands in California and then returned to HDS as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Theology and Chairman of the Department of Theology. He went on to become Professor of Humanistic Studies and Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay in 1977, where he remained until becoming HDS Dean. Following his time at HDS, George served as president of Rice University and Columbia University and then as CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
Formerly an English teacher, Nancy earned a second master’s degree in library science from Simmons University during George’s tenure as Dean and later worked at the library at Buckingham Browne and Nichols, a private K-12 school in Cambridge. She, like George, has fond memories of HDS, including their time living and raising their two daughters at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) while George was an HDS professor.
George and Nancy, now retired, live in New Hampshire. They hold volunteer leadership roles within their retirement community and enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. Below, they share their appreciation for HDS and discuss why they chose to make a bequest to the Divinity School.
What drew you to HDS? What did you appreciate about the HDS community?
George Rupp: The first time I became interested in HDS, I was a student at Yale Divinity School. I was very impressed with the Center for the Study of World Religions as a program that placed Christian theology into a kind of pluralistic setting. I was attracted to seeing Christian theology in the context of multiple other religious traditions and trying to make sure that my interpretation of it was not ignorant of all those other world religions.
Since that time, Harvard Divinity School has exerted a kind of magnetic field, drawing me, Nancy, and eventually our two daughters to campus time and again from an array of different locations in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Each time, returning to HDS has felt like returning to an intellectual and spiritual home.
Nancy Rupp: At one point, we lived for a few years at the Center for the Study of World Religions in the director's apartment, just by chance. I clearly remember hosting Sunday afternoon cooking sessions with the other women living at the CSWR who were from all over the world. George and I, and our daughters, enjoyed living at the CSWR with HDS students and their families who came from a variety of different countries. It was clear then and now that HDS plays an important role in fostering an environment that considers the full experience of being a student—not just the academics but the community, as well.
George Rupp: We felt very at home at HDS and at the CSWR. Both of our daughters are cultural anthropologists, and that’s probably tied to their spending some of their formative years at the CSWR. At that time, there were over 20 residential units, and we were the only family that had American kids. Our daughters, through their early friendships with children from all over the world, realized that it was interesting to know people from other countries.
Can you share what some of your key goals and accomplishments were during your tenure as HDS Dean?
George Rupp: My view of institutions is that it’s crucial to make them more themselves, rather than try to imitate some other institution. When I was Dean, I sought to affirm the core identity of HDS and was happy to have a chance to make it more itself. In my first year as dean, we undertook to revise the curriculum. This was not to change it, but to make it more emphatic so that all students at the Divinity School—even those who are planning to become ministers or rabbis in their own tradition—needed to have a familiarity with at least one other tradition. That became part of the identity of the Divinity School. Similarly, it was important to have the more traditional seminary topics be in connection with other disciplines, as well. These elements had already been part of the identity of the Divinity School when I became Dean, but I was glad to be able to bring much more focus to them. And what I really value about the Divinity School is that it has continued to evolve in that overall direction.
You are members of all three HDS giving societies: the Emerson Circle, the Leadership Society, and the James Luther Adams Society. Why is donating to HDS—specifically planned giving—important to you?
Both: We are eager to support HDS because we value the fact that the School’s important core identity has stayed very much the same even in a changing world. And, in a way, that helps all of us to engage with the changing world. This is one of the reasons why planned gifts are very promising—because they will support the core of the School’s identity even through all the changes that happen.
From a practical perspective, we enjoy making a substantial difference; at the same time, we want to make sure that we don't undermine our support for our children and grandchildren. The way to do that effectively is through our bequest, which enables us to give a more substantial gift than we would be able to simply by contributing to HDS out of what is available each year. We decided many years ago that we would divide our estate 50/50, giving half to our children and grandchildren and the other half to charitable causes. Our bequest to HDS will reinforce the values that are central to the Divinity School—values that we also believe in. We make annual gifts, as well, because we want to support HDS between now and when our bequest comes to fruition.
—Sarah Rubin, HDS donor relations officer