A member of the class of 1956, Joel O. Conarroe went on to attend Cornell University and New York University. He has written book on American poetry and fiction and was chair of the English department and dean of arts and sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as the executive director of the Modern Language Association and as president of the PEN America Center and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He endowed the Conarroe Lecture Series at Davidson College.