Robert Sears papers

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: RG-04-01-08

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes records from Robert Sears from his career in higher education and range from 1951 to 1965. Included are notes pertaining to courses, records of departmental business and curriculum planning, examples of examinations given to students, and materials pertaining to professional conferences and meetings.

Dates

Creation: 1951-1965

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, Muncie, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Archives and Special Collections.

Biographical Note / Historical Note / Administrative History

Robert Spiegel Sears was born on September 2, 1916 in Robertsdale, Alabama, and was raised in Danville, Illinois. In 1938, Sears earned a bachelor’s degree in German from DePauw University, and would later earn a master’s degree in German in 1939 and a PhD in German in 1954, both from the University of Illinois. Prior to his arrival at Ball State, Sears also served as an instructor at the University of Chattanooga (now known as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) and as an assistant professor at The Citadel. Sears also served in the U.S. Army from October of 1941 to November of 1945.

In 1960, Sears joined the Foreign Language department at Ball State as an associate professor of German, and would later be promoted to full professor in 1965. From 1968 to 1973, Sears would serve as the head of the Foreign Language department. While on the faculty, Sears established the school’s first foreign language house and founded the Ball State chapter of Alpha Mu Gamma. In 1969, he was named to the Governor’s State Advisory Committee for Foreign Language.

Sears died on October 28, 1978 after a prolonged illness.