Jan Allyson Cooper Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-360

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of Jan Cooper predominantly comprised files from her work on the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns Committee (LGBCC), and the Oberlin Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Alumni (LGBA, later Oberlin Lambda Alumni) group of the Alumni Association. Those files were transferred to the respective record groups: Various College-Wide Committees, and the Alumni Association. One somewhat informal LGBCC report was kept in this collection in Series 4. Queer Studies Survey.

The materials in this personal paper group are arranged into six series.

Dates

Creation: 1979-1997, undated
Other: Date acquired: 1997 November 6

Creator

Cooper, Jan Allyson (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Series 6 restricted, as noted on the Inventory.

Biographical or Historical Information

Jan Cooper, a native of Alabama, received a BA degree from Auburn University, an MA from the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), and a PhD from the University of Iowa. She joined the Oberlin College faculty in 1984 in the Expository Writing Program. She is the John Charles Reid Associate Professor of Writing and Communication and English.

In 1994, as a result of work by the General Faculty’s committee on lesbian, gay and bisexual concerns, of which Cooper was a member, the college approved a policy to extend health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of faculty members, administrators and professional staff.

In 1997 Cooper was appointed by President Nancy Dye to the Task Force on Student Rights, Responsibilities and Regulations to evaluate the then current rules and regulations and identify the basic rights of all members of the student body. The Task Force also evaluated the judicial system to identify a clear philosophy for developing a new system.

Cooper was the first recipient of the college’s Distinguished Teaching Award in the Humanities in 1998. She was elected to the College Faculty Council and Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC); she also served on the special committee on Faculty Roles, Responsibilities and Rewards. In 2000, she was appointed Acting Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, from July 1 through December 31. In that position she played a major role in the orientation and mentoring of new faculty.

Cooper’s academic interests include queer studies, journalism, writing in the sciences, and southern United States literature. Cooper is currently researching the intersection of race, class, region, and sexuality in Queer American film/television and current issues in American journalism. Cooper’s publications include essays on teaching college writing and on Zora Neale Hurston. With Mary C. Garvin she co-edited Living in the Vermilion River Watershed, a collaborative work with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Firelands Chapter, and Oberlin College in 2008.

With three other faculty members in the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, Cooper proposed the college’s first formal academic program in journalism, passed by the College Faculty committee in November 2019.

Sources

Alana Blumenstein, “Proposal for Journalism Concentration Passes,” The Oberlin Review, November 18, 2019.

Jan Cooper faculty file, Alumni and Development Records (RG 28).

"Jan Cooper,” Oberlin College, accessed September 30, 2022.