Barbara Nolan

Barbara Nolan

Barbara Nolan, professor emeritus of Medieval Literature at the University of Virginia and beloved wife of John Thomas, died Saturday, February 7, 2009, after a long courageous battle with breast cancer.

Born January 26, 1941, in Indianapolis as the middle child of Frank and Mary Nolan, Barbara received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College in 1962, and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.

Her first academic appointment was at Washington University in St. Louis, where she served as Director of Freshman Composition and Director of Undergraduate Studies. In 1978, she was appointed to the English Department faculty at the University of Virginia as its first woman-tenured faculty. She later served as Chair of the English Department.

Barbara was a serious researcher and scholar as well as an exceptional, passionate educator of Medieval Literature. Internationally recognized as a premier expert on Chaucer and the medieval era, she was the author of two books related to Chaucer's poetry and many articles related to medieval romance, medieval bawdy stories and the juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane in medieval fiction.

Recognition of the quality of her scholarship came with a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Scholarships to the University of London, and a Rhodes Scholarship. Barbara was appointed by the University of Virginia as the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Medieval Literature, an endowed chair position that she held until her retirement in 2008. She was a trustee of the New Chaucer Society and was on the Advisory Board of the Review Journal of Medieval Literature.

The students at the University of Virginia sustained her lifelong passion and energy as an educator. She delighted in sharing her research and insights while actively involving students in the serious pursuit of academic excellence in Medieval Literature. Her mission was to invite and encourage graduate students to ask new questions and to answer them in novel, creative, rigorous ways. She reveled in the shared energy that emerged from their discourse. Through her leadership role in creating the University Seminar (USM) for first year undergraduate students, she provided students with a way to begin to develop critical-thinking skills early in their academic careers.

In 1992, she was asked to also serve as Vice Provost for Instructional Development. During her decade-long tenure in this assignment, she played a pivotal role in introducing a number of significant initiatives related to faculty development and student learning. Among them were the development of formal programs in American Sign Language (ASL), the establishment of an English as a Second Language program (ESL), and the founding of the UVa International College.

She also was instrumental in advocating for institutional grants and initiatives designed to strengthen research and inquiry-based learning in the humanities at the undergraduate level and the use of technology to improve teaching and student learning. As a frequent representative of the Provost's Office on academic search committees, she served as a vigorous advocate for increased diversity in faculty and administrative appointments. Her reputation led to her appointment as a founding Board and Executive Committee Member of the Reinvention Center, a national organization established in 2000 and dedicated to working for the improvement of undergraduate education at research universities, an affiliation of which she was very proud.

She is survived by those who have received the benefit of her enormous zest for life: her husband, John Thomas; four stepchildren, Charlotte, Stephen, Lydia and Emily Pelliccia from her previous marriage to Carlo Pelliccia, who pre-deceased her in 1988; three grandchildren; her sister, Elizabeth Arnold; her brother and his wife, Peter and Pat Nolan; six nieces and nephews and 13 grandnieces and nephews.

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Barbara will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, February 14, 2009, at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. A reception will follow at Pavilion IX on the Lawn.

Friends may sign the online guest register at Teague Funeral Home (http://www.teaguefuneralhome.com).

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Barbara Nolan Fund at the University of Virginia Alumni Association, Alumni Hall, P.O. Box 400314, Charlottesville, VA, 22904; Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, 3365 Monastery Drive, Crozet, VA, 22932; or the UVA Cancer Center, Box 800334, Charlottesville, VA 22908.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.