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Stellfox Award: A Visual History


The black-and-white photo below, captured on the steps of Old West in 1959, immortalizes a watershed moment in the life Jean Louise Stellfox '60: the day Robert Frost visited Dickinson. That visit inspired the then-English-major to devote her life to teaching literature. 

Thirty years later, Stellfox's passion for literature lives on through the Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Visiting Scholars and Writers Program. Established after Stellfox's death in 2003 and named for Jean's parents, the Stellfox program allows the college to continue to inspire students through literature by bringing renowned literary figures to campus. Each year, our college photographer celebrates the program's ties to the event that inspired it by recreating the Robert Frost photo with the most recent award recipient.


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  • Robert Frost (center) poses on the steps of Old West with Dickinson students in 1959.
    Robert Frost
  • British novelist Ian McEwan, a Booker award-winner, was the first to receive the Stellfox Award.
    Ian McEwan (2005)
  • Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove poses with students in 2006.
    Rita Dove (2006)
  • Who's afraid of Edward Albee? Certainly not these smiling students. The three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner took his turn on the steps of Old West in 2007.
    Edward Albee (2007)
  • Mario Vargas Llosa, the 2008 awardee, is a novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist, literary critic and 2010 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
    Mario Vargas Llosa (2008)
  • Poet Maxine Kumin, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, smiles for the camera during her 2009 visit.
    Maxine Kumin (2009)
  • Richard Russo, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, visited the campus to receive his award in 2011.
    Richard Russo (2011)
  • Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood received the Stellfox for 2011-12.  
    Margaret Atwood (2011)
Robert Frost (center) poses on the steps of Old West with Dickinson students in 1959.Prev ImageNext Image

View more photos, feature stories and videos about the Stellfox Award recipients.

Read about this year's recipient, Margaret Atwood.

By MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
Photos by A. Pierce Bounds '71 and Carl Socolow '77