Paul C. Doherty faculty papers

Collection

Identifier: BC-2005-036

Staff Only

Dates

Creation: 1941 - 2009

Scope and Contents

Papers document the teaching, writing, and administrative work of twentieth-century American Boston College English professor Paul C. Doherty. The bulk of Doherty's papers are from his teaching, including course assignments, course descriptions, syllabi, notes, research, and teaching evaluations. Before University adoption of a standard questionnaire to evaluate teaching, Doherty experimented with a number of formats and incentives to obtain student... feedback. The course materials also demonstrate Doherty's pedagogical approach to preparing graduate students to teach writing, an approach that was used by the writing program into the twenty-first century. Topically, his courses covered composition, literary criticism, the short story, and the works of Shakespeare and James Joyce, as well as the teaching of writing.

Doherty's administrative files include correspondence, committee reports, external reviews, program proposals, self-studies, meeting minutes, and other topical files from English Department and University committees, including Faculty of the Senate and Arts & Sciences committees.

Also included are Doherty's research notes and manuscripts of his writing, as well as correspondence about published writings by others.

Creator

Doherty, Paul C. (1933-) (Person)
Boston College. Department of English (Organization)

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research. Contains some university records dating after 1968, which are closed per university policy. Access for the university records is with permission of the originating office.

Conditions Governing Use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Biographical Note

Paul Colman Doherty was born on April 20, 1933 in Boston, Massachusetts to Joseph and Gertrude (Kellaher) Doherty. Doherty was a student in the Arlington Public School system before earning a Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross in 1955. He went on to receive a Master of Arts from Boston University and a Ph.D. in English from University of Missouri in 1963. On August 24, 1963 he married Gail Lee Gross, and they had three children.

Doherty... became an assistant professor of English at Boston College in 1964 and was promoted to associate professor in 1970. His initial research and teaching focused on James Joyce, William Shakespeare, and literary criticism, but over the course of his career his focus shifted toward rhetoric and composition. Doherty was instrumental in the development of the freshman writing program. For many years he trained the program's graduate student instructors in composition theory and pedagogy. The pedagogical approach he foregrounded, which emphasized analyzing and imitating the writing of others, was utlilized by the writing program into the twenty-first century.

Doherty was active in the National Council of Teachers of English's Conference on College Composition and Communication and published articles on James Joyce, writing pedagogy, and literary criticism. He drafted, but did not publish, two English textbooks. His one published monograph was King Arthur, part of Chelsea House's series on World Leaders Past & Present for a young adult audience.

Doherty served the University in many leadership and administrative roles. He twice served as Chair of the English Department, first from approximately 1973-1976 and later from around 1985-1990. From 1984-1985 he served as the Interim Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, though he declined to keep the position permanently. Doherty was a founding member of the Senate of the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences, of which he was the president from 1979-1980. For ten years (1998-2008), Doherty directed the Lowell Humanities Series. He was a mentor in the AHANA (later the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center) Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program. He was instrumental in the creation of the University’s Academic Advisement Program, and he was involved in efforts to encourage writing across the curriculum.

Upon his retirement from Boston College in 2012, Doherty received the Boston College Community Service Award for his decades of service to the City of Newton, which included: serving on the Sacred Heart Parish in Newton Center’s Council, coaching a youth baseball team, and helping found the affordable housing non-profit Newton Community Development Foundation.

Sources:

"Doherty made associate dean of A&S for academic year 1984-85." Boston College Biweekly. Volume 4, Number 19, 26 July 1984.

Doherty, Paul C. King Arthur. Chelsea House, 1986.

Sullivan, Kathleen. "Doherty Caps Career with Community Service Award." Boston College Chronicle. July 12, 2012.

Sullivan, Mark. "Doherty to be Director of Lecture Series." Boston College Chronicle. Volume 6, Number 16, 23 April 1998.

State Marriage Records, 1941-1972 . Wyoming Department of Health; Cheyenne, WY, USA.

Extent

6 Linear Feet (6 containers)

Language of Materials

English

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Additional Description

Abstract

Papers document the teaching and administrative work of twentieth-century American Boston College English professor Paul C. Doherty. Materials include correspondence, clippings, course materials, draft manuscripts, event ephemera, and faculty meeting minutes. Doherty's instructional materials make up the bulk of the collection and focus on numerous topics including James Joyce, William Shakespeare, the short story, literary criticism, and rhetoric and composition.

Arrangement

Organized in three series: I. Teaching; II. Scholarship; and III. University service.

Series II. Scholarship is further divided into three subseries: A. Conferences, B. Correspondence, and C. Research and Writing.

Series III. University service is further divided into five subseries: A. English Department; B. Events; C. Issues; D. Publications; and E. University committees.

Provenance

Gift of Paul Doherty in 2005 and 2014.

Related Materials

Boston College Humanities Series director's records, BC.2002.037, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Francis W. Sweeney, SJ papers, MS.2002.003, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Boston College Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculties' Office records, BC.1999.065, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.