Stack helps to liven up HRN

Roberta Stack's "inventions" won't have as much of an effect on life as, say, the light bulb -- but some say her contributions to life at Penn are invaluable. Stack --Ethe resident dean of Hamilton College House, formerly High Rise North -- possesses a "Thomas Edison streak," according to retired English professor and former Hill House faculty master Robert Lucid. "Nobody knows what she will invent next," he said. From creating a new course to charting new territory as a College House dean, everything Stack initiates will "soon be regarded as a necessity," added Lucid, who has known Stack since 1992. Stack, 49, has made many contributions to Penn since her arrival in 1989. She designed a freshman writing seminar on "Writing About Plays and Performance." This class enables students to venture into Philadelphia and visit the theater. A theater enthusiast herself, Stack was a nominator for last year's Barrymore Award, which is the Philadelphia-area equivalent of the Tony awards. She saw more than 80 shows last year alone. Stack explained that although many students in the class were interested in theater, they were not going to see plays because they were unfamiliar with the Philadelphia area. By incorporating theater into the freshman seminar, Stack was able to motivate her students to see shows. College senior Dara Gruen said Stack's class "had a huge impact on [her] life here at Penn." In fact, she still frequents the theaters that she had been to when she was a freshman taking the class. Gruen describes Stack as "dynamic" and gifted at "stimulating discussion." After finishing high school in Chicago, Stack decided to do something different before going to college. Working her way up the corporate ladder, Stack became office manager for a law office while simultaneously performing in a musical comedy troupe. In 1983, Stack decided to go to college and become a full-time student while still working as office manager. After finishing her undergraduate studies at Marymount Manhattan in New York City, Stack came to Penn to do her graduate work. "It was like stepping off a cliff," Stack said, referring to the feeling she had coming to Penn and not having to work at the same time. Apart from being a well-respected teacher in the English Department, Stack could not pass up the additional responsibility of becoming the house dean of Hamilton College House earlier this year. "It enables you to get to know people as neighbors and friends. It opens up a new dimension," she said. Lucid, who worked with Stack on the Penn-in-London King's College program, agreed. "What is rare is her ability to work with a staff of less experienced people -- graduate and undergraduate -- and convert them into educators too," he said.