Communications

Katherine (Kate) Ginger ’27

November 28, 2025 

Katherine (Kate) Ginger ’27 passed away on Nov. 28 after a battle with cancer. Dartmouth staff are in contact with her family and have expressed our sincere condolences at this most difficult time.A neuroscience major who was pursuing a minor in African and African American Studies, Kate was motivated by a desire to support healthy and positive connections in our community. She was an integral part of the Outdoor Programs Office team—welcoming new students to campus as a first-year trip leader, helping with summer outdoor rentals, and managing operations at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. She cared for the well-being of her fellow students as a mental health ambassador and a member of the Student Advisory Board for the Sexual Violence Prevention Project. Kate also shared her creative voice in her poetry and her articles for The Dartmouth newspaper. She cultivated joy in those around her, especially through her love of dance and her participation in the Sugarplum group. Kate forged strong friendships during her time here, and her presence will be greatly missed.In Kate’s memory, the Dartmouth flag will be lowered on Dec. 2 and 3. 

Plans for a vigil will be shared with the community once the details are finalized.

Raymond Londell Hall

November 12, 2025 

Raymond Londell Hall, the Orvil E. Dryfoos Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and former chair of the sociology department, passed away on Nov. 12. He was 87 years old.

“In his nearly 35 years on the faculty, Ray Hall combined a deep commitment to his students and colleagues with the vital work of documenting Dartmouth’s evolving history of race and inclusion,” said John Carey, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, in a campus message. “His legacy can be felt in the generations of students he inspired as well as the crucial conversations on race and equity that continue today.”

Born in 1938 in Marshall, Texas, Hall grew up in extreme poverty during the era of segregation. From age eight, he worked physically demanding jobs to help support his family, later finding employment with Joe Hirsch Jr., a local merchant who recognized Hall’s intellectual gifts, lent him books, and encouraged him to continue his education.

Hall earned his BA in sociology from Wiley College in 1962. He served in the U.S. military from 1962 to 1964, stationed in Illesheim, Germany, and then worked as a principal at a technology school in Nigeria from 1965 to 1966. He earned his MA from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1968 and his PhD from Syracuse University in 1972, later receiving an honorary MA from Dartmouth in 1993.

After teaching at Bishop College in Dallas for three years, Hall joined Dartmouth’s sociology department in 1972, where he would spend nearly 35 years until his retirement in 2006. He held the Orvil E. Dryfoos Professorship in Public Affairs, served as chair of the sociology department for a decade, and was an active member of several faculty committees, including the Committee Advisory to the President. He also served as director of the Dartmouth-Boston Urban Studies Program from 1978 to 1980.

A scholar of race, ethnicity, and social movements, Hall examined ethnic autonomy and how communities pursue self-determination within complex political landscapes. He authored Black Separatism in the United States (1978) and served as editor of Ethnic Autonomy Comparative Dynamics (1979), which examines ethnic behavior as it relates to movements for self-determination across diverse global contexts.

Among his many professional appointments, Hall served on the Board of Directors of the Forum for United States-Soviet Dialogue. He also served A Better Chance in Hanover and was a trustee of his alma mater, Wiley College, chairing the Academy Programs Committee. In 1993, he served as special consultant for the National Institutes of Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Hall’s dedication to his students was legendary. One former student, Marty Cole ’78, later established the Raymond Hall Scholarship Fund in honor of the professor who made a lasting impact on him.

“Ray was the person I could turn to as a mentor, somebody I could respect and follow. He helped me develop both personally and professionally,” Cole said. “We worked together and built up a relationship where we could spend time talking about many things, like politics, government, people, and more broadly life. At the time he was doing research and publishing materials around separatism and related causes. I was doing research for him on various separatist movements around the world. Ray and his wife Terry were my parents away from home. They would host me at their house, including for Thanksgiving dinner.”

Hall also advised numerous students through the Senior Fellows program, including former trustee Nancy Kepes Jeton ’76, who completed a geography/urban studies research project under his mentorship.

Perhaps one of Hall’s most significant contributions to Dartmouth was his meticulous documentation of the College’s complex racial history. His 1986 article for the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine traced the institution’s relationship with African-American students from its founding to the 1980s. Dartmouth was the first Ivy League institution to admit an African-American student—Edward Mitchell in 1824, nearly 50 years before Harvard admitted its first Black graduate.

“Dartmouth, of all of the other Ivies, should take pride in having a large percentage of African Americans, because it was the first of what became the Ivy League institutions to admit an African American,” Hall said in an oral history interview at Dartmouth in 2008. His scholarship documented the lives of remarkable Black Dartmouth graduates, including Thomas Paul Jr. ’1841, who addressed the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society while still a student; Jonathan Gibbs ’1852, who became Florida’s first Black cabinet member during Reconstruction; and Ernest Just ’1907, one of the nation’s most eminent marine biologists.

Hall’s relationship with the Hirsch family evolved into a lifelong bond. He converted to Judaism in the 1960s and stayed in touch with the family across generations, culminating when Elliott Freirich ’01, the grandson of Joe Hirsch Jr., graduated from Dartmouth.

Professor of Sociology Misagh Parsa remembers Hall as “a very generous and supportive” colleague who “had a good sense of humor and always found ways to cheer up his colleagues in difficult times.”

Parsa recalls one particularly memorable moment: “I told him my new book would be published and available for distribution. I confided that I was very worried about a negative reaction to my book by the Islamic government in Iran. Ray looked at me and said, ‘Please don’t worry. Even if the Iranian government knew you were here, they wouldn’t be able to find Hanover on the map.’ His comment made me laugh, helping me return to my work.”

Hall is survived by his partner of more than 30 years, Linda Barton of West Lebanon, New Hampshire, and his daughters Anna, Bonnie, and Morgan, and their families.

A private burial will take place at Pine Knoll Cemetery in Hanover. A public celebration of life reception will be held in the Upper Valley in spring 2026, with details to be announced. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Raymond L. Hall Scholarship Fund at Dartmouth College. Gifts may be made online or sent to: Dartmouth College, Gift Recording Office, 6066 Development Office, Hanover, NH 03755 (note “Raymond L. Hall Scholarship Fund in memory of Raymond Hall” on checks), or by calling 603-646-0098. 

Donations may also be made to the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

The Dartmouth flag will be lowered in Hall’s honor on Dec. 4 and 5. 

William Scott


William C. Scott, professor emeritus of classics, died on Oct.13.

Scott was a distinguished scholar of ancient Greek literature and was widely recognized for his work on the Homeric poems.

“In his 38 years at Dartmouth, Bill Scott’s brilliance as a scholar was matched only by his generosity as a teacher and leader,” Arts and Sciences Interim Dean of Faculty John Carey said in a community message. “His research reshaped our understanding of Greek drama, and his visionary leadership helped transform Baker-Berry Library for the digital age. Even in retirement, he remained deeply committed to teaching, attracting eager learners to his Osher Lifelong Learning classes with the same passion and care that defined his career.”

Scott grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and earned his BA in classics from Princeton University in 1959 as Phi Beta Kappa. After teaching at three private high schools, Scott returned to Princeton, earning his MA in 1962 and PhD in 1964, with a dissertation on “The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile.” He also studied at the University of Munich in 1962-63 on a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst.

Scott met his wife, Mary Lyons (Baldwin), in graduate school at Princeton. They married in 1964, and that summer traveled throughout Europe for his museum research, marking the beginning of a lifetime of exploration together.

That fall Scott joined Haverford College as an assistant professor, and in 1966 he joined Dartmouth’s classics department, where he would spend his career. Over the following decades, he progressed through faculty and administrative leadership roles, serving as associate dean of the faculty, chairman of the Department of Classics, and chairman of the Humanities Division. He became Professor of Classics and Drama in 1975, was appointed Humanities Distinguished Research Professor in 1988, and was named Dartmouth Professor of Classics in 1994.

Among his many contributions to Dartmouth, Scott took particular pride in chairing the Task Force on the Library of the 21st Century in 1993, leading the renovation and expansion of Baker-Berry Library to ensure it would remain vital to students and faculty in an increasingly digital world. He also served as co-chair of the University Seminar on Information Technology and as member and chairman of the Council on Honorary Degrees.

Throughout his career, Scott demonstrated a deep commitment to his students and colleagues, supporting productions of Greek drama and special faculty seminars on world cultures. He also served as a guide on alumni tours to Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, and the Black Sea.

A prolific scholar, Scott was the author of six books on classical studies, including Musical Design in Aeschylean Theater (1984), which was awarded the Goodwin Award of Merit by the American Philological Association as the year’s best book in the field. His 1996 book, Musical Design in Sophoclean Theater, extended his pioneering analysis of how metrical patterns functioned as a central feature of musical organization in Greek drama, arguing that significant portions of the plays cannot be fully realized on stage unless the musical effects created by the poet are incorporated.

His other major works include The Oral Nature of the Homeric Simile (1974), Prometheus Bound (1980), and Plato’s The Republic (1985). Ahead of his time in embracing open-access publishing, Scott made The Artistry of the Homeric Simile (2009) freely available online. He later reflected: “I have written several books on Greek literature, and yet have found the widest readership through a book on oral literature, The Artistry of the Homeric Simile, that I published open access with the Dartmouth College Library.”

In addition to his books, Scott published dozens of scholarly articles on Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Catullus in leading journals. He often commented that his most insightful contribution to the field of classics was his introduction of the concept of the “simileme”—the idea that Homer’s repetition of certain descriptors for characters in the Iliad and the Odyssey had deeper meaning than had previously been realized by other scholars.

In 1997, Scott delivered Dartmouth’s 10th Annual Presidential Lecture, titled “The Gospel According to Odysseus.”

Scott served on several national scholarly committees, including as a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and the Archbishop’s Commission on Greek Language and Culture for the Greek Orthodox Church.

Dartmouth peers remember Scott as a warm, generous colleague who regularly taught beyond his course load to support the ancient Greek curriculum. He thoughtfully reviewed junior colleagues’ manuscripts, even outside his expertise, doing background research to offer substantive feedback. Each morning, he spent half an hour in the Classics library, in what he called “the coffee klatch,” connecting with members of the Classics department to discuss teaching methods or catch up on their research.

After his retirement in 2004, Scott continued to teach through Dartmouth’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. His classes on Homer and Greek tragedies always filled quickly and received top reviews.

Scott’s curiosity and enthusiasm extended far beyond the classroom. In addition to Latin and Greek, he learned Spanish, German, Italian, and French. He embraced the natural beauty of the Upper Valley, spending time hiking, skiing, and skating. He regularly played squash and tennis with colleagues, and found joy in cooking, painting, and playing the piano.

Scott  is survived by his wife Mary Lyons; his son Charles Scott (Virginia Scott); his daughters Ellen Delaney (Joseph Stanovich) and Alice Paik (David Paik); and six grandchildren: Caitlin Delaney; Lily, Eddie, and Sophie Scott; and Henry and Lyons Paik.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Scott’s memory to the William C. Scott Humanities Distinguished Research Professor and Family Fund.

A memorial service will take place on Friday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hanover, with a reception to follow in the Hayward Room of the Hanover Inn.

The Dartmouth flag will be lowered in Scott’s honor on Nov. 20 and 21. 

Susan Blader

Friday, October 10, 2025 

Susan Blader, associate professor emerita of Asian and Middle Eastern languages and literatures, passed away on Oct. 10.

“Over nearly four decades at Dartmouth, Susan Blader was a passionate steward of Chinese culture, a rigorous scholar, and a dedicated mentor to her students and colleagues,” Arts and Sciences Dean of Faculty John Carey said in a community message. “Her legacy will be remembered not only through her scholarly contributions, but also through the warmth and generosity she brought to every facet of her work.”

A distinguished scholar of Chinese language and cultural history, Blader was among the first American researchers to study Chinese popular literature and played a pioneering role in preserving China’s storytelling traditions—now a field of intense global study within the framework of intangible cultural heritage.

Blader earned her PhD in Chinese language and literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, following BA and MA degrees in Russian language and literature. She joined Dartmouth’s Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures in 1978, and quickly became a beloved teacher, mentor, and colleague. (The department later became the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages.) 

Blader taught a wide range of courses in Chinese language, literature, and culture, including Storytelling in China, Literature and Revolution in 20th-Century China, and Introduction to Chinese Culture. Her dedication to students extended beyond the classroom—she advised numerous honors theses, supervised independent studies, and mentored students through research assistantships and programming at the Chinese Language House.

Blader’s legendary “Noodle Hour,” a weekly gathering she hosted at the Chinese Language House, brought students together for cultural programming and home-cooked meals, often including her signature sesame noodles. These events featured guest speakers ranging from archaeologists and musicians to alumni and visiting scholars, fostering a vibrant community of learning and exchange.

Blader’s former student Andrew David Field ’91, associate professor of Chinese history at Duke Kunshan University, wrote in his blog about a special gathering Blader hosted at the Chinese Language House during his 25th reunion at Dartmouth. “We have kept up over the past 25 years,” he wrote. “I credit her above all others for sparking my lifelong interest in Chinese language, culture, and history.”

Blader’s scholarly contributions were both prolific and pioneering. In 1997, she translated Tales of Magistrate Bao and His Valiant Lieutenants, introducing English readers to a semi-historical narrative of adventure and crime centered on the famed Song dynasty magistrate Bao Zheng.

“This work remains a pioneering translation and study of traditional Chinese storytelling and performance,” says Juwen Zhang, a professor of Chinese at Willamette University, who studied with Blader as a graduate student at Dartmouth and returned in 2012 as a visiting professor. “Moreover, she was one of the very few scholars to conduct fieldwork on oral and performing arts in China during the 1970s and 1980s, effectively raising awareness of this field among scholars of different backgrounds.”

In 2002, Blader was invited by Yo-Yo Ma and Ted Levin to serve as curator for the Chinese Storytelling Pavilion at the Smithsonian’s 36th Annual Summer Folklife Festival. She invited and interpreted for six master storytellers from China, presenting two hours of performances over 10 days. This work resulted in more than 100 hours of digitized oral narrative performances, including Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Tragic-Comic Destiny, which she co-produced and edited. 

In 2006, Blader received an anonymous $50,000 gift to support her work to preserve China’s storytelling arts. Among her many projects, she collaborated with Dartmouth’s DALI Lab to create The Art of the Chinese Storyteller, which documents her work collecting and teaching storytelling traditions. Over the years, Blader brought numerous Chinese storytellers to Dartmouth, organizing “Chinese Storytelling Teahouse” events that enriched campus cultural life.

In 2016, Blader collaborated with Beijing ethnomusicologists Bao Chengjie and Cai Yuanli on a 30-hour documentary of China’s oral narrative arts. The project compiled lecture-demonstrations and performances by distinguished artists that she had videotaped and collected from 1982 to 2000. She gifted a copy to the Center for the Promotion of National Folk Arts in Beijing.

Blader’s publications include numerous essays and reviews in the journal Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, where she served on the editorial board for decades. She also co-edited a Festschrift, Chinese Ideas About Nature and Society: Studies in Honour of Derk Bodde, which explores the proper ordering of the universe in Chinese tradition.

In recent years, Blader served as one of three co-editors on a trilogy celebrating the legacy of her colleague, Dartmouth professor emerita Sarah Allan. These volumes—Myth and the Making of History (2024), Metaphor and Meaning (2024), and Bone, Bronze, and Bamboo (2024)—bring together leading scholars to examine newly unearthed artifacts, conceptual metaphor theory in early Chinese philosophy, and the interplay between myth and history in ancient China.

An engaged campus leader, Blader served as chair of her department and led multiple faculty searches. She also organized several colloquia, including one on the globalization of traditional Chinese medicine, and worked tirelessly to support off-campus programs and curriculum development.

Most recently, Blader focused on completing an audio and video archive of her numerous interviews with Chinese storytellers—a project that will soon be housed in the Dartmouth Libraries.

Senior Lecturer Alan Li remembers Blader as a caring colleague and beloved friend. “Her years of absolute devotion to the teaching of Chinese language, culture, and literature at Dartmouth will always live in our fond memories and she will be woefully missed,” he said.

“Susan Blader’s generosity, sincerity, and compassion were truly unparalleled to all who knew her, whether as a student, colleague, friend, or someone she simply helped once,” said Zhang.

“But I must emphasize that Susan—whom I have respected so deeply for 30 years that I still find it difficult to stop addressing her as Bai Laoshi (白老师 Teacher Bai, her Chinese title and a sincere expression of my lifelong reverence)—was an utterly serious teacher and scholar. She did more than just correct my writing word by word, even punctuation by punctuation, as she would do to a student’s homework or a colleague’s manuscript; she also consistently challenged and guided me in producing quality publications. She will be remembered and missed by the numerous students, scholars, and performers whom she bridged between China and the U.S.”

Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Jonathan Smolin remembers Blader as “a beloved colleague and teacher whose warmth and generosity touched everyone who knew her. Her kindness, wisdom, and unwavering support made her not only an extraordinary educator, but also a cherished colleague and friend. The impact she had on her students and the Dartmouth community will continue to be felt for many years to come.”

Upon her retirement in 2016, Blader reflected: “My 38 years at Dartmouth College have brought me much joy, most importantly through the wonderful students I have taught and who still regularly return to visit. To be able to teach such students in an environment that comes close to paradise is rare good fortune. Dartmouth College has also, in a variety of ways over the decades, supported and encouraged my work with Chinese storytelling artists. For all these things, I am very grateful.”

Blader is survived by her husband, Ehud Benor, associate professor emeritus of religion. A memorial gathering will take place on campus in the spring, with remote access.

The Dartmouth flag will be lowered in Blader’s honor on Oct. 22 and 23.

William “Bill” Crosby Platt

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

William “Bill” Crosby Platt, 64, a senior writer in Dartmouth’s Office of Communications, died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, after a long illness.

He was born January 31, 1961, in North Hempstead, N.Y., to Harold and Elizabeth Platt. Bill grew up in Manhasset, N.Y., and in Tulsa, Ok. He was a graduate of UMass-Boston and received his master’s degree from the University of Montana. He was a writer to his core, rarely traveling anywhere without a notebook and pencil in his pocket.

He married Paula DelBonis-Platt in 1995 in Kalispell, Mt. Bill and Paula moved from shared bylines to a shared life in higher education and parenting their two beloved sons, the adventure and loves of a lifetime. Bill especially treasured these moments and memories with their sons, Nate and Will,  dinners, projects, automotive exploits, concerts and theater, movies, golf, celebrations, travel, and long talks. 

Bill worked at Dartmouth for the last 13 years of his life. He had held writing and editing positions from his student days onward, including an internship at the Boston Globe; as a reporter at the Vineyard Gazette; leading the Montana Standard’s bureau in Anaconda; overseeing and editing translations at Bowne in New York City; writing for the Dow Jones Newswires, including the famous Times Square “ticker”; working as a stringer in France for the Associated Press; and editing on the night desk at the Concord Monitor. He greatly valued his colleagues, connections, and friendships from each of these times in his life. When not writing professionally, he was busy penning screenplays and stories or reading about writing and writers. Rarely devoid of hope, he died with a fresh sheet of paper in his Remington Quiet-Riter Eleven typewriter and a fresh supply of pen and ink cartridges on his desk. He also reveled in music, from Tin Pan Alley to Tulsa Sound, and had passed his own instruments, the guitar and banjo, to his children to play.

Bill is survived by his wife, Paula; sons, Nathaniel Platt (partner Kirsten Hanchett) of Manchester, N.H., and William Platt of Contoocook and Fort Collins, Co.; brother, Donald Platt of Marietta, Ga.; sister, Allison Platt of Goldsboro, N.C.; and a close cousin, Dianne Platt of Tulsa, Ok. He was predeceased by his parents and an infant sister Pamela. A celebration of Bill’s life will be held on Tuesday, October 14, at 10 a.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church in Concord, N.H. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund or the American Cancer Society.