Dr. Judith Gold Stitzel, Professor, Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 5039
These papers document the professional and personal life of Dr. Judith Gold Stitzel, professor of English and Women's Studies at West Virginia University. They include materials related to her own education, her career at West Virginia University, her public and professional service, her publications and speeches, and her awards and honors. These papers also detail the development of Women's Studies as part of the curriculum at West Virginia University.
The collection is divided into
Series 1. Personal
Sub-Series 1. Activism
Sub-Series 2. Awards and Certificates
Sub-Series 3. Education
Sub-Series 4. General
Sub-Series 5. Individuals
Sub-Series 6. Local Government Activities
Series 2. Professional and Service Activities
Sub-Series 1. Events and Travel
Sub-Series 2. General
Sub-Series 3. Organizations
Sub-Series 4. Presentations, Publications, and Writings
Series 3. Subjects
Series 4. West Virginia University (WVU)
Sub-Series 1. College of Arts and Sciences
Sub-Series 2. Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Sub-Series 3. General
Sub-Series 4. Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research
Series 5. Recordings
Series 6. Restricted Material
Boxes 41-46 are restricted due to the presence of personally identifying information and graded student works. Materials will become accessible to researchers in 2093.
Researchers may access digitized materials by visiting the link attached to each item or by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Dr. Judith Gold Stitzel was born March 3, 1941, to Artie and Syd Gold in New York City. Upon graduation from Hunter College High School in 1957, she began higher education at Barnard College with a four-year scholarship from the New York State Regents, graduating in 1961 with her B.A. in English. While attending Barnard College, she met Robert Stitzel, a pharmacologist, whom she would marry in 1961. They remained married until Robert's death in 2007.
She received her M.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1962. While working on her Ph.D. in English at the University of Minnesota, the Stitzels had their first and only child, David. Stitzel graduated with her Ph.D. in 1968 with the dissertation “Comedy and the Serious Moralist: The Sexual Ethic in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones”. In 1965, before graduating from the University of Minnesota, Stitzel began working as an instructor in the English department at West Virginia University, where she would remain in employment in several capacities until her retirement in 1998.
Her academic positions at WVU include instructor (1965-1968), assistant professor (1968-1972), associate professor (1972-1979), professor (1979-1998), director of the Writing Laboratory (1969-1973), coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program (1980-1984), and director of the Center for Women’s Studies (1984-1993).
After expanding courses in WVU’s English department to include women’s studies topics in the 1970s, Stitzel co-developed and coordinated the Women’s Studies Program as an academic discipline at WVU, which would in 1984 become the Center for Women’s Studies, and in 2012 the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.
While employed with WVU, she was active in a variety of ways, including as an advisor to student organizations such as the Student Action for Appalachian Progress (SAAP) (1972-1975), Mortarboard (1972-1975), and Women’s Center (1975-1982).
She was also active in several non-WVU organizations, including the Modern Language Association (1968-1986), National Council of Teachers of English (1973-1980), Conference of College Composition and Communication (1972-1980), North Central Women’s Studies Association (1978-1994), and National Women’s Studies Association (1980- ).
Throughout her career, Stitzel published many articles, some of which featured in the Appalachian Review, Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, The Japan Women’s Studies Journal, and West Virginia History.
After her professional retirement in 1998, Stitzel remained active in West Virginia and WVU. She was president of the Suncrest Neighborhood Association in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was active in the process of creating the Morgantown Comprehensive Plan during that period.
After the death of her husband Robert, Stitzel wrote and published the book Field Notes From Grief: The First Year in 2012, documenting the first year after his death.
Stitzel was also an early member and contributor to the West Virginia Feminist Activist and Women’s History Collection (WVFAWHC), a project of the West Virginia and Regional History Center, which began archiving materials in the early 2020s. As of 2026 May, Stitzel remains active with WVU through her work with the WVFAWHC Advisory Board and her contributions to the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.
37.8 Linear Feet (24 record cartons, 15 in. each; 13 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 document case, 2.5 in.; 1 card file box, 5 in., 1 card file box, 6 in.; 2 flat storage boxes, 1.5 in. each; 4 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each)
English
These papers document the professional and personal life of Dr. Judith Gold Stitzel, professor of English and Women's Studies at West Virginia University. They include materials related to her own education, her career at West Virginia University, her public and professional service, her publications and speeches, and her awards and honors. These papers also detail the development of Women's Studies as part of the curriculum at West Virginia University.
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: West Virginia & Regional History Center
Gifts of Stitzel, Judith, 1999 May 28, 2015 September 11, 2018 April 02, and 2023 October 25.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository