THE LEGEND OF ANDREA SUNUNU Extraordinary Dedication to Teaching and Her Students By Christopher L. Wolfe
I first met Professor of English Andrea Sununu in 2011, a few years into my time at DePauw. By then, I had formed a strong impression of who she was. Her name was always mentioned in a particular tone that drew knowing smiles from people who had been at the University longer than me. She was something different. My only experiences with her to that point could best be described as sightings. She always appeared to be late to something, moving briskly across campus with her eyes scanning a stack of papers. One of her advisees, Stephen K. Worden ’11, provided the occasion for our meeting. Worden had received a highly competitive scholarship to continue his studies at Cambridge, and I was to write about it for the DePauw homepage. The story I found was as much about the scholarly relationship that led to the award, as it was about the award itself. Under Sununu’s guidance, Worden had written and rewritten drafts of his personal statement many times over, more than once meeting with her past midnight to go over the latest revision. Her commitment to him was remarkable. Since then, I’ve met many more Wordens – students past and present who, without prompting, marvel at their time with Professor Sununu. Each one planted in my mind an argument to share her story. However, I also knew that writing about Sununu would be a challenge. One of the things that stuck with me about our FALL 2014 DEPAUW MAGAZINE 27