Corinne Schelling
The American Academy has a long history of involvement in the study of ethnic and racial pluralism at home and abroad. Much of this involvement is attributable to the interest and effort of Corinne Schelling. Over a span of twenty years, we worked with Corinne on three such projects that produced three Academy-sponsored volumes: Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, edited by Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan (1975); Ethnic Pluralism and Public Policy: Achieving Equality in the United States and Britain, edited by Nathan Glazer and Ken Young (1983); and Immigrants in Two Democracies: French and American Experience, edited by Donald L. Horowitz and Gérard Noiriel (1992). In every case, Corinne’s steady guiding hand was responsible for bringing the project to fruition. She helped deal with grantors, connect us with partners overseas, bring on participants, arrange meetings, and shepherd the essays through the publication process. She worked quietly and always agreeably, utilizing what we called in the preface to the Immigrants volume, “her unique combination of initiative, insight, and persistence.”
Corinne continued her involvement with the Academy’s work on ethnic pluralism in the 1990s, helping organize a particularly expansive comparative project bringing together scholars in Germany with American specialists. This effort resulted in the publication of ½ve volumes, edited variously by Myron Weiner, Peter Schuck, Ranier Münz, and other German and American participants. With Corinne’s help, the ½nal comparative project in this series brought in participants from Japan, leading to the publication of Temporary Workers or Future Citizens? Japanese and U.S. Migration Policies, edited by Myron Weiner and Tadashi Hanami (1998).
Corinne contributed to many other Academy projects, including the Future of the Metropolis, directed by Elmer W. Johnson. She also oversaw many of the Academy’s regional activities.
Corinne Schelling passed away on December 19, 2011. She epitomized the dedication and intelligence required of Academy staff to gather the human and material resources to make a project successful. Without her, the Academy would have been a much less interesting venue for intellectual exchange.
Donald L. Horowitz
Duke University
Nathan Glazer
Harvard University