In memoriam: Nancy Maxwell Porter, 1936-2018 NANCY MAXWELL PORTER, who served Portland State for more than 30 years as a professor of English and was instrumental in founding the university’s Women’s Studies program, died August 17 in Portland. She was 82 years old. Professor Porter was born in Syracuse, New York, on April 30, 1936, to Charles Oran Maxwell and Jean Benson Maxwell. She graduated from Oakwood Friends School, Poughkeepsie, New York, and continued her education at Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1958. She was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to attend Yale University, and received a master’s in English in 1960. Professor Porter met her future husband, Roger Porter, at Yale, and they were married in 1961. The couple moved to Portland, where she taught at Lewis & Clark College. The Porters’ marriage ended in 1968, although they remained close friends. In 1966 Professor Porter joined the Portland State faculty. Four years later, she collaborated with an English Department colleague, Nancy Hoffman, and Nona Glazer Malbin of Sociology, to establish a women’s studies program. According to The College that Would Not Die, a history of Portland State written by Professor Gordon Dodds, the effort “prevailed because of imagination, tenacity, and hard work.” The PSU Faculty Senate formally approved the program in November 1974, and the state board followed in September 1975, making the PSU Women’s Studies certificate program the first in Oregon and one of the first in the United States. Her work in women’s studies led to Professor Porter’s long connection with The Feminist Press. Between 1982 and 1992, Professor Porter edited the Women’s Studies Quarterly, published by the Feminist Press, in which scholars debated and reimagined education from women’s perspectives. She also authored numerous articles and papers that contributed to ongoing discussions in the field. Professor Porter retired from Portland State in 2002 and was named professor emerita. She is survived by her long-time parter, Joanne Benton, as well as Ms. Benton’s children, Betsy Stapleton (Michael), of California, and Peter Rudnytsky (Cheryl), of Florida, and their children. Remembrances may be sent to Oakwood Friends School, 22 Spackenhill Road, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12063, or to the Feminist Press, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406, New York, NY, 10016. A tribute page may be found at http://www.anewtradition.com/obituaries/obituary/16308_Nancy_M_Porter. An online guest book is available at www.oregonlive.com/obits. —Doug Swanson —-Photograph by Greg Lawler 4
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