Two long-serving Global Humanities and Religions faculty retiring this quarter

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Two long-serving Global Humanities and Religions faculty retiring this quarter

May 29, 2026

Two pillars of the Global Humanities and Religions department will retire at the end of spring quarter and become emeritus and emerita, respectively: Professor Scott Pearce and Professor Andrea Gogröf. Their service will be publicly celebrated at the department's annual gathering this week, and in a private event for faculty in June.

Professor Scott Pearce has served Western for 35 years, joining the department (then called Liberal Studies) in 1991 as a specialist in the history of China and Inner Asia, a few years after earning his Ph.D. from Princeton University. His teaching spanned the humanities and religions sides of the department's curriculum, offering courses that touched on history, art, economics, mysticism, pilgrimage, and religion in eastern Asia and globally. He regularly contributed to East Asian Studies (first as a center, more recently as a program) at Western through cross-listing of courses and as managing editor of its book series for over a decade. His teaching emphasizes fundamental skills of close reading and discussion of the traditional texts of East Asia, home to nearly 20% of humanity.

Beyond his notable impact on students through his courses, Professor Pearce has regularly advocated for a high-quality curriculum for all undergraduate students. Most recently, that has taken the form of his service on the 2025-2026 task force for revising the GUR curriculum. He has served as parliamentarian, vice president, and president of the Faculty Senate; he served a term as department chair, and served on various other committees in the college and the wider university.

As a researcher, Professor Pearce focused on the political and military history of late classical China, particularly interactions between inner Asian peoples and the agrarian communities of eastern China. His 2023 monograph "Northern Wei (386-534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia," (Oxford University Press) deserves special note. This work took shape during a professional leave in 2021-22, during which he served as a visiting research scholar at Princeton and NYU. His interdisciplinary scholarship is guided by deep questions about what it means to be human, and probes why cultural and religious features show up at particular places and times. He has always sought deeper meaning beyond surface facts.

As an emeritus, Professor Pearce plans to continue research on the roots of East Asia's Tang empire (618-907) in preceding regimes of Inner Asian origin that had ruled the Yellow River plains in the 5th and 6th centuries CE, building on his earlier study of a particularly important such regime, the Northern Wei.

Professor Andrea Gogröf has served Western for 30 years, joining the department (then called Liberal Studies) in 1996 as a specialist in nineteenth- and twentieth-century French and German literature and philosophy, shortly after taking a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Washington, following undergraduate and graduate degrees in Paris. Her teaching has primarily covered modern and early modern European literature, history, art, and ideas, with occasional courses on earlier periods. Her courses have played a critical role in the department, bridging the gap between deeper history in Europe and non-Western civilizations with the modern context that we all swim in. In recent years, she developed two highly successful new courses: one on Friedrich Nietzsche, the other on the Avant-Garde movement.

She made special efforts over the years to encourage students to participate in conferences; most recently, she guided a graduating senior to deliver a paper at the 2025 conference of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA). These sorts of experiences have a huge impact on undergraduate students.

Professor Gogröf's service track record is long and varied. She served the college and university on numerous committees over the years, and participated as an artist in the faculty and employee art show for fourteen years. In the department, she has served as interim chair on three occasions, steering the department through some tough times punctuated by unexpected faculty departures. She also served in leadership roles for her main professional organization (PAMLA), with few breaks, for the past twenty-three years, including a stint as President of PAMLA in 2017-18. One contribution to the department that stands out is her close support for the remarkable student-led Kalliope Project, which drew in numerous majors and other students as participants in its rehearsal and revivifying of European humanistic heritage.

Professor Gogröf published a monograph prior to tenure and went on to write eight articles and one interview. Moreover, she was the editor of two journal special issue volumes and is currently working on a five-chapter book on Michel Houellebecq, a notable French writer and performance artist. She consistently participated in conferences and workshops over the years, often multiple per year.

As an emerita, Professor Gogröf plans to continue her life as a painter living in Seattle, working solo and with a studio cohort. She plans to show her work and see new parts of the world.