When it comes to education, Elizabeth Van Hunnick ’56 thinks the ancient Greeks had the right idea.
“You should study many, many different things. It’s not just taking a course to get a job. It’s important to be well-rounded.”
A Southern California native, Van Hunnick grew up with Dutch immigrant parents, who taught her and her late sister, Wilhelmina ’58, about European culture and history. So when it came time to pick a major at USC, Van Hunnick chose history—a decision that would shape her life, both professionally, as a teacher, and personally, as a world traveler.
“If I hadn't read a lot and studied history, I wouldn't have gotten as much fun out of travel,” says Van Hunnick, whose curiosity and adventurous spirit have led her to Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Although many students focus on pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Van Hunnick believes that a knowledge of history is essential for members of a society to thrive and evolve. Otherwise, she says, paraphrasing the Spanish philosopher George Santayana, we’ll “keep making the same mistakes over and over again.”
With that in mind, and to honor the legacy of her parents, Van Hunnick donated $15 million in her family’s name to the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Department of History. It is the largest single gift to a USC humanities department, as well as one of the largest endowment contributions to any university history department in the United States.
Earlier this year, award-winning historian Anne Goldgar was named the inaugural holder of the Garrett and Anne Van Hunnick Chair in European History. Goldgar is a Fulbright Scholar, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and an elected member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, a prestigious Dutch literary society with only 1,600 members.
Van Hunnick is hopeful that her gift, by attracting other scholars of Goldgar’s caliber, will reinforce the national reputation of USC Dornsife’s history department.
When looking to the future, she asserts, “you can truly learn a lot from the past.”