Richard Repp, Class of 1957

Williams sent you to Oxford on a Wilson Fellowship and, except for three years teaching in Istanbul, you have made your home there ever since. After earning a doctorate in Turkish history, you gained prominence as a scholar of the Ottoman period. Your notable contributions to the field include your book, The Mufti of Istanbul: a study in the development of the Ottoman learned hierarchy. At the same time, you have developed an extraordinary career as an academic administrator. As Master of St. Cross College, you became one of only a handful of Americans ever elected as “head of house” at Oxford and helped lead that twentieth-century College into the mainstream of a University of medieval lineage. You also have served the University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor; as Chairman of the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, the University Staff Committee, and the Conference of Colleges; and as a member of the University’s main administrative body. You served also as Chairman of the Board of the Ashmolean Museum during a time of significant growth in its physical plant and finances. In praising your contributions to the running of one of the world’s premier universities, your administrative colleagues have cited “the soundness of [your] views and [your] economy of expression.” It is no wonder, then, that even in retirement you have now been named Chairman of the Board of the Oxford University Society, the University’s main alumni organization. In recognition of your distinguished achievement in education, Williams College is proud to honor you with its Bicentennial Medal.