Anton Andereggen to scale new heights
Anton Andereggen first set eyes on the United States from the deck of the Leonardo da Vinci, an ocean liner en route from Italy.
"I came to this country on my honeymoon in 1963," says Andereggen, professor emeritus of French, who retired after 24 years with the College. "My wife, Lilo, and I planned to live here for two years, but we liked it so much that we stayed."
Fourteen years later, Andereggen found his way to Lewis & Clark and, once again, decided to stay.
"He is a rigorous teacher and very committed to the profession. The students have learned a lot from him," says Nicole Aas-Rouxparis, professor of French.
Andereggen, who hails from Switzerland, has guided hundreds of students through the intricacies and frustrations of French grammar. He is equally at home with German, Italian or Romansch dialects.
An experienced mountaineer who has hiked extensively in the Cascade Mountains, Andereggen has set his sights on scaling Mont Blanc, the highest mountain peak of the Alps, and the Matterhorn in the Pennine Alps on the Italian-Swiss border. He also plans to continue his research in Francophone studies, specifically focusing on France’s territories in the Pacific.
"It is with regret that I leave Lewis & Clark," says Andereggen. "I was happy here. I have enjoyed the students and my colleagues. What’s important is to have good memories."
That’s why—along with French culture, history, civilization, language and linguistics—Andereggen taught his students the value of making good friends, of getting involved in the community and of being good citizens.
During his tenure at Lewis & Clark, he embraced academic excellence and burgeoning technologies. He served on the Committee on the Library; incorporated audio, video and computer programs into his courses; and designed his Web site as a resource for students. (See http://www.lclark.edu/~anton.)
Andereggen has high praise for the College’s state-of-the-art classrooms and the W. M. Keck Interactive Learning Center in the James F. Miller Center for the Humanities, where the foreign languages and literatures department resides.
"I’m grateful to Jimmy Miller for his generosity," Andereggen says about the man who has been a stalwart friend of the College for five decades and who made the Miller Center possible.
Andereggen earned a bachelor of arts degree in French and linguistics from Monmouth College in New Jersey and a doctor of philosophy degree in French and Romance linguistics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He was a visiting professor with the American Heritage Association in Avignon, France, in 1992, and faculty-in-residence at Brethren Colleges Abroad in Strasbourg, France, in 1991. He was a Murdock Scholar in 1992 and was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Rome in 1980 and at the University of Berlin in 1985.
Andereggen has published five books and numerous articles in professional journals; has presented papers at international, national and regional conferences; and has served as an editorial reader. He is a consultant for the Heritage Foundation (a public policy think tank), a translator for the International Council of Oregon and a consultant for the 2001 Advanced Placement Reading for the College Board Educational Testing Service.
—by Pattie Pace | 
