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The Patricia L. Conroy Endowment Fund for Old Icelandic, Old Norse and Faroese Studies
Submitted by Debbie Sue Olson
on
The University of Washington and Department of Scandinavian Studies are pleased to announce the creation of the Patricia L. Conroy Endowment Fund for Old Icelandic, Old Norse and Faroese Studies.
The Conroy Endowment Fund was established in memory of Dr. Patricia Conroy, longtime professor of Scandinavian Studies who specialized in Old Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse – the languages, literatures and cultures. The fund will help promote a greater understanding of - and appreciation for – Old Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse – with the ultimate goal of growing into an endowed professorship or chair position, helping the Department recruit and retain exceptional faculty.
Patricia (Pat) Conroy was born in 1941. She attended Rutgers University as a pre-medical studies student and there was introduced to Old Icelandic Studies through courses taught by Marlene Ciklamini. Following her graduation in 1963, Dr. Conroy traveled to Reykjavik where she found a job as a laboratory technologist and spent her spare time studying Modern and Old Icelandic languages, Icelandic literature, phonetics, and semantics.
She earned a Master of Arts in Danish Linguistics from the University of California, Berkley in 1968. In 1972, she joined the University of Washington as an acting assistant professor. After completing her dissertation, “Faroese Ballads and Oral-Formulaic Composition,” and earning her Ph.D., she was promoted to assistant professor, and then to associate professor in 1980. Dr. Conroy taught courses ranging from medieval literature and Scandinavian mythology to linguistics and Hans Christian Andersen. Dr. Conroy was an active member of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, the International Congress on Medieval Studies and the Modern Language Association. She was a dedicated teacher, devoted mentor, and valued colleague.
