Robert V. “Spud” Hannaford

Philosophy

For more than half a century, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Robert V. “Spud” Hannaford has been a devoted supporter of Ripon College: as a beloved teacher, a dedicated scholar and conference organizer, and a sustaining supporter.

He was born in September 1929 in Anderson, Indiana. He received his undergraduate degree from Wabash College in Indiana and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University before joining Ripon’s faculty in 1956.

In additional to his teaching duties and serving as head of the philosophy department, Hannaford designed, directed and coordinated several interdisciplinary conferences that brought many leading scholars to campus. Subject matters included ethics, political theory, epistemology, sociobiology, the social responsibilities of small business, philosophy of education, and government regulation.

As a scholar of ethics, ethical behavior, and moral reasoning and development in children, he has published widely in those areas.

He coached a Ripon College team that won four engagements on the General Electric College Bowl national television quiz series in 1963, an achievement that brought great recognition to the College.

He also chaired a publications committee that oversaw College Days, Crimson, Scribbler and WRPN radio.

Two sabbaticals were grated to him: a one-year study of language philosophy at Oxford University in Oxford, England; and a study of the general theory of human action at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Philosophical Association.

At Ripon, he was named the first Victor and Carried Palmer Endowed Chair for Leadership Values. “In order to lead effectively, one must have a reflective and honest concern for one’s world and an understanding of its structure,” Hannaford said. “Leadership demands a dedicated concern for a set of values and the ability to realize those values in the world.”

His several awards from Ripon for teaching excellence include the James Underkofler Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching; the May Bumby Severy, Class of 1908, Award twice; and the Uhrig Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Hannaford retired from Ripon in 1996. At that time, then-Vice President and Dean of Faculty David Seligman said: “He has been an inspiring teacher for generations of college students while remaining an active and productive scholar.”

In his and his wife’s honor, former students, friends and colleagues established the Professor Robert V. “Spud” & Neola Hannaford Endowed Scholarship Fund in 2009.

Ripon presented him with an honorary degree in 2012, and he remains actively involved with the activities and needs of the College.

A liberal arts education, he said, “gives training into inquiring into a problem and developing an answer. A liberal education puts you in touch with your own identify. It involves examining current values, their relationship to society and what effect tradition plays on them.”