St. Anthony Park resident F. Garvin Davenport was recently honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award by the Hamline University College of Liberal Arts Alumni Association.
Every year, the association selects one current or former faculty member of the College of Liberal Arts who has exhibited exemplary teaching or writing in his or her field to receive this award.
Davenport graduated from Grinnell College in 1961 and completed his doctorate in American Studies at the University of Minnesota in 1967. He arrived at Hamline University in 1966, teaching many courses, including “Writing for the Sciences and Social Sciences” and seminars about Herman Melville, Emily Dickenson and William Faulkner.
Davenport created the Hamline Writing Program, serving as its first director. He helped design and implement the College of Liberal Arts’ core curriculum and taught a popular first-year seminar, “The Mighty Mississippi,” which focused on important issues affecting the river.
In 1986, Davenport received the Burton and Ruth Grimes Outstanding Teaching Award. In 2000, he was selected as dean of Hamline’s College of Liberal Arts.
In 2004, he was named academic vice president and dean, serving as the transitional academic vice president between the terms of Hamline University presidents Larry Osnes and Linda Hanson.
His publications include the book The Myth of Southern History, as well as articles, essays, short stories and poems. Upon retirement from Hamline, he was granted professor emeritus rank and received special recognition from the president and the board of trustees for 40 years of extraordinary service to Hamline University.
