Sheafe Satterthwaite

Sheafe Satterthwaite is a sixty-seven-year-old bachelor, who arrived on the Williams Campus in February 1968 as a research associate in environmental studies (at first studying and writing about the leisure home phenomenon) and who commenced teaching in the art department, with the Campuses course, in the fall of 1970...

Background

Sheafe attended the Putney School in Vermont for high school, and went to UVA. He doesn't have an advanced degree and he doesn't publish, so he can't be a real professor; he is perpetually a Lecturer in Art.

He is on his eighth five-year contract. The rumor is that he makes $1 a year; however, this rumor is unsubstantiated by any source.

Sheafe lives on a seven-building estate to which he refers as "the albatross." It is in New York state, about an hour from Williams, so he has a long commute. The albatross has a barn whose upper floor is a library with more volumes than some those of some small towns, and the lower floor houses a wrestling room that one Williams student described as "unlike anything I have ever seen before." He also maintains a residence in Putney, VT.

Sheafe refers to students by their last names, usually in all capital letters, as in, "according to SMITH..."

Etymology

"Sheafe" is actually a last name. There is a Sheafe Wharf in Portsmouth, NH.

Courses Sheafe teaches

For opinions on Sheafe Satterthwaite's teaching, see Factrak.

The quintessential Sheafe course is Art History 201: American Landscape History. He also teaches sections of the Art History 101-102 sequence. Other courses are Campuses and Women.

The most important part of a Sheafe course is the field seminar. Once a week, you spend the afternoon driving around in a van with Sheafe. He points out things as you drive around; you stop and get out and look at things; and you talk to people. Usually, this results in a lot of learning, though not the kind that one could put on a test. Most often the afternoon will involve a stop at a place to get food. This could be a convenience store, a bar (to get Cokes), or the Blue Benn Diner.

Where to find Sheafe

• Driscoll (lunch, usually with coaches or athletes)
• Tunnel City (for frequent meetings with students)

Places Sheafe likes to take students to dinner:

• The Gramercy (his current favorite)
• Mill on the Floss (his previous favorite)