Ralph A. Ciancio
Ralph A. Ciancio, professor emeritus of English, whose excellence in teaching has been memorialized in the Skidmore teaching award that bears his name, died Wednesday, January 16, 2019. He was 89.
Ralph taught at Skidmore for more than 35 years, served on multiple governance committees, and chaired the Department of English. Over the years, he published on numerous 20th-century writers. His research on Vladimir Nabokov was the subject of the Moseley Lecture that he delivered at Skidmore in 1997.
Upon his retirement in 2000, the Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching was established in his honor.
“Ralph was devoted to his students, his department, and the College. For him, teaching was a calling, and he inspired his fellow faculty members and generations of students,” said Susan Kress, a former English professor, vice president for academic affairs, and acting president of the College. “It is so fitting that the Ciancio Award continues to honor his reputation as a truly transformational teacher and mentor.”
“Ralph was a superb teacher, and with the energy he had, was able to bring literature to life with his classroom presentations — both the intellectual meaning and the emotional impact,” said Bud Foulke, a former chair of the Department of English.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1929, Ralph toured nationally as an acrobat and adagio dancer in his younger years. Drafted in 1951, he acquired a love of reading during his time in the Army. He completed his undergraduate degree at Duquesne University, and went on to earn his master’s degree at Pennsylvania State University and his doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh.
He taught previously at Carnegie Mellon University (then called the Carnegie Institute of Technology) before joining the faculty of Skidmore in 1965.
In addition to his academic achievements and his profound impact on the lives of his students, Ralph is fondly remembered as a warm, kind, and caring human being. Survivors include his wife, Mimi, who also retired from Skidmore; their three sons, Lee, Claude ’87, and Paul ’91; and their four grandchildren, Rachel ’16, Michael, R.J., and Anthony