Professors Emeriti Pauline, English, and David Fletcher, Biology

Faculty at Bucknell are driven by more than a research agenda — they inspire curiosity across disciplines, learn new teaching approaches and constantly seek the interconnectedness between their area of expertise and the world around them.

Professors Emeriti David Fletcher, biology, and his late wife, Pauline, English, walked that walk. And now, their commitment to education will be passed on to new learners at Bucknell.

The Pauline and David Fletcher Scholarship is awarded to a first-generation student, with a preference — but not a requirement — for those studying English or biology. The need-based gift highlights the Fletchers' commitment to first-generation success. "You can get all the information you want nowadays. Learning how to use that, knowing how to apply it in new ways — that's critical," David says.

The Fletchers are an example of Bucknell's teaching philosophy personified. Curious, constant learners who posed questions at the intersections of philosophy, literature, morality, science and beyond, the pair encouraged higher levels of thinking that transcended their respective disciplines.

Together, the Fletchers taught one of the very first interdisciplinary classes offered at the University. Science and Literature was a popular upper-level class that explored ways in which physics and biology, in particular, have been used in novels and plays by famous authors. "We wanted to bring together different kinds of knowledge — things that are sufficiently far apart — since it is exciting to discover how different disciplines interact," says David. "Not only in terms of methodology, but in terms of the principles of knowledge."

"We had some very bright people in the class," he says. "Science and Literature drew students from all disciplines, and we had a wonderful time."

A Life Well-lived

Hailing from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), David and Pauline were brought together serendipitously at the University of Natal in South Africa in 1955. "It was love at first sight," David says. "Pauline was a 'freshette' — a year behind me in study, but with her in a three-year program and me in a four, we graduated at the same time." The pair wed in the afternoon immediately following their graduation ceremony.

In witnessing the harsh reality of apartheid South Africa, the pair made the decision to leave the country. David pursued his research on the African "killer" bees in Africa, through which he obtained a position at the University of Georgia. Pauline obtained a doctorate degree from the University of Rochester and joined Bucknell’s English Department shortly after. They managed a long-distance commuter marriage for eight years — Pauline in Lewisburg, David in Athens. Spurred by the fear of losing Pauline, Bucknell offered David a biology faculty position in 1987. "Coming to Bucknell, I found the light I'd been looking for," says David. "Pauline and I shared 15 years together on the same faculty, and for a number of those years we taught Science and Literature together. Pauline and I were in an earthly heaven." They retired in 2002.

During their tenures, David and Pauline each made their mark on Bucknell. Both won teaching awards. In 1985, Pauline received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, became the first female to chair the English Department and served as long-time editor of the scholarly journal Bucknell Review. When appointing Pauline as acting director of the University Press, Francis D. Fergusson, then vice president for academic affairs, wrote, "Bucknell is fortunate, indeed, that you are willing to take on this additional task … it will soon be difficult to find any aspect of University life in which Pauline Fletcher does not play a central role."

Together, the Fletchers made plans to continue their impact post-retirement through the development of a scholarship. After Pauline passed away in November 2020, David decided the time was right to honor their promise and her memory through the future. David endowed the scholarship with an outright gift, but leveraged this generosity by including the University as a beneficiary of his estate. Consequently, the Pauline and David Fletcher Scholarship will reach even more students due to his thoughtful planning.

David's commitment to continuing interdisciplinary teaching extends into his work as an educator with the Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning. A great admirer of the philosopher Karl Popper, David acknowledges that "all knowledge is provisional," that the most rewarding path through life is to question everything, most especially one's most strongly held beliefs.

"Educated people almost invariably have a much better capacity to evaluate situations," he says. "They're creative, because they've got more in their brains to think about. Education feeds the imagination."