Donald Kagan - Former Director of Special Programs in the Humanities - Dies at 89

On August 6, 2021, Donald Kagan, Sterling professor emeritus of classics and history and former dean of Yale College died at the age of 89. 

Many remember him as a brilliant teacher of Ancient Greece. Others remember him as a rare conservative voice in academia. But the Humanities Program primarily remembers Professor Kagan as a pivotal leader in our history.

As Director of the “Special Programs” in the Humanities from 1975 to 1978, a non-departmental unit that oversaw Directed Studies and the History, Arts, and Letters major (the predecessor of the Humanities Major), he fought back against efforts to end these interdisciplinary offerings in the aftermath of the 1973-75 recession. Directed Studies owes its current form as a freshman program due to Professor Kagan’s attempts to make DS, then a two-year selection of courses with electives, leaner and easier to staff. The Humanities Program’s joint appointments, secured in 2007, are also a culmination of a half-century-long effort to find dedicated funding for interdisciplinary hires, a cause that Professor Kagan championed as Director.