Thomas F. Banchoff papers (OF.1UF.2015.003)

The Thomas F. Banchoff papers represents Banchoff’s work as a mathematics professor and as acting Dean of Student Affairs at Brown University and covers primarily the years from 1963 through 1997. Most of the teaching material consists of professional correspondence; lecture notes, syllabi, and exams; research and review articles; and general notes. Material from his year as acting Dean of Student Affairs includes records of the newly created Transitional Year Program (now the Third World Transition Program) (Box 6, folders 25-29; Box 7, folders 1-5), correspondence and notes about contemporary campus issues such as the ROTC program, the campus strike of 1970, the Afro-American Society, and anti-Vietnam War actions. Also included in the papers are records of various faculty and university committees that Professor Banchoff served on, notably the 1968/1969 Committee of January 7 (Box 7, folders 14-18), which explored the role of the faculty in university governance, and the 1997 Strategic Task Force on Information Resources and Services (SPTFIRS) (Box 9, folders 4-9).

The papers are arranged into eight series:

Series 1. Correspondence (1963-2000): this series contains a chronological arrangement of mostly professional and collegial correspondence with editors and fellow mathematicians (see also Series 5 - Box 4, folders 30-31; Box 5, folder 1 - for more publisher correspondence).

Series 2. Personal (1963-2012): here is a small collection of personal notes and clippings, most notably documents relating to Banchoff’s membership in the Society for Religion in Higher Education, later the Society for Values in Higher Education (Box 1, folders 14-16).

Series 3. Teaching (1950-2012; bulk 1960-1997): this series includes Banchoff’s curriculum vitae and several articles he wrote about his teaching career and philosophy (Box 1, folder 19); materials supporting his nomination for several teaching awards (Box 1, folders 20-24); various conference and seminar notes; and lecture notes and syllabi for numerous undergraduate classes taught at both Brown University and UCLA (Box 2, folders 10-16; Box 3, folders 1-15). Also included in this series is a considerable amount of restricted material in the form of student recommendations and evaluations (Restricted until 2085) and student coursework (Restricted until 2055).

Series 4. Mathematics: administrative and conferences (1935-1997; bulk 1967-1997): this series comprises mostly Brown University Mathematics Department documents and notices (Box 3, folders 16-17), as well as material from several mathematics conferences (Box 6, folders 3-6).

Series 5. Mathematics: publications and research notes (1960-2003): this series includes research notes and articles on various geometry topics (Box 4, folders 7-24); handwritten and typescript manuscripts (Box 4, folders 25-28); and book and article reviews undertaken for various publishers (Box 4, folders 30-31; Box 5, folder 1).

Series 6. Dean of Student Affairs (1963-1998): most of the material in this series dates from the 1971/1972 academic year when Banchoff was acting Dean of Student Affairs. It includes notes and correspondence about various campus events, such as the acquisition of Churchill House for the Afro-American Society and the 1970 campus strike, and administrative records. Material relating to the founding of the Transitional Year Program (also referred to as the Transitional Summer Program) is in Box 6, folders 25-29, and Box 7, folders 1-5; this program prepared students from disadvantaged backgrounds for life and work at Brown.

Series 7. Faculty: administrative and committees (1966-2008): this series contains agendas and minutes of faculty meetings (Box 7, folder 7), as well as faculty publications and notices. Also included are records of the Faculty Club (Box 7, folder 9) and of Brown’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (Box 7, folder 13). Professor Banchoff served on many committees, including the Ad Hoc Committee on Elementary, Introductory, and Modes of Thought Courses (Box 7, folders 10-11) and the Committee of January 7 (Box 7, folders 14-18). Miscellaneous committee materials and student academic advisory material are also included.

Series 8. Brown University general (1968-2008): this series contains meetings notes from a number of university committees investigating governance (Box 8, folders 5-7), counseling (Box 8, folders 8-13), educational policy (Box 8, folders 14-19), and housing (Box 8, folders 20-25). There are also strategic planning task force documents for 1996/1997 (Box 9, folder 4-9) and the Institutional Self-Study report for 1998.