DOUGLAS & LUCILE CULVER
Douglas Culver ’83 and his daughter Lucile Culver ’13 both had transformative experiences studying comparative literature at AUP – and it was all thanks to a man named Chuck. Douglas met Chuck when working near the University after dropping out of college in the US. “Over time, I became friendly with some of the students including Chuck. I don’t know his last name. He introduced me to the AMEX Café and encouraged me to consider going back to school at AUP. It was good advice.” Some 30 years later, his daughter was inspired by the literary world. “I decided to transfer to AUP at a time when all I wanted to do was look up from a novel – I think I was reading Zola – and see the setting as the characters within those pages would.” The Paris location wasn’t the only draw, however. Growing up in a multicultural family – with a dad who went to AUP – meant that her first day walking into the Grenelle Teaching and Mentoring Center felt like a rite of passage. For Lucile, an AUP education means being conscious of otherness and a world outside of oneself. “It means feeling strange, pushing boundaries and being 55
AU P M AGAZ I N E
ruthlessly inquisitive,” she argues. Douglas has a similar view: “My AUP education exposed me to a wide variety of cross-cultural ideas. It ignited in me a curiosity to learn.” Douglas is now based in Southampton, New York, where he works as First Vice President of Investments at Wells Fargo Advisors. Lucile went on to receive an MA in History and Literature from Columbia University before turning her skills into a career in content marketing. She now works as a copywriter and marketing communications manager for a publishing startup in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both credit Professor Roy Rosenstein with honing their writing skills. “Dr Rosenstein had a profound influence on my education,” says Douglas. “He is a remarkable teacher! I know he had a tremendous impact on my daughter’s education too.” “Professor Rosenstein’s passion for teaching and knowledge of comparative literature has inspired a tradition of lifelong learning in my family,” says Lucile. “His rigor grading papers was also a frequent topic of conversation, but I think I had better grades than my father did!”
