Dr. Ruth Ost

 Director

A Jersey girl by birth, Ruth began her worldly travels by hitting the road at 18. After graduating with an A.B. from Oberlin College, she exhibited her courage and adventurous spirit as a high school English teacher. She spent much of her career in Michigan teaching high school English, Humanities (recognized as a Program of Excellence by the National Council of Teachers of English) and directing the Gifted Program.  Interrupting those Michigan years, she lived in Paradiso (aka Rome) and traveled far and wide with two Airedales (they liked Turkey best!).   For a time she lived in NYC, studying on NEH fellowships.   Interested in art, literature, ritual and Jungian psychology, she did the math and it added up to making the drastic move to North Philadelphia and a Ph.D. in religion at Temple.  While in grad school, she taught summers at the University of Tennessee at Martin, in the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Humanities.  For a short time she was a visiting professor at the University of Rochester, but eventually came back to Temple…where she found her home, finally, in the best of all possible places—Honors! She is on the board of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors, a reader for the Udall Foundation Scholarships. In 2006 Ruth won the Academic Advising Administrator Award, and in 1998 was named Honors Professor of the Year.   She is also tied with another notable Temple persona for “greatest office on campus.”

She loves teaching Death and Dying, American Lives, Art, Ritual and Gender, and Pilgrimage:  from Holy Lands to Graceland.  She has strong views on the fate of the Barnes Foundation and is still trying to perfect a good penne al' arrabiata.  If she had one wish for all Honors students—all Temple students for that matter—it would be to study abroad.

Drop by her office sometime—(inevitably) wait in line and contribute to/doodle in the famous “Waiting for Ruth notebook”— and eventually have a discussion with the Director herself on diverse topics ranging from “why YOU should be an English major” to “why shouldn’t men receive flowers as a romantic gesture too?”  Complimenting Ruth on her (occasionally erratic) forms of attire will garner a high-five, and acting your true self (whether goofy, geeky, or gregarious) will guarantee you her affection.