Antony Higgins, an assistant professor of Spanish described as a dedicated teacher and brilliant scholar, died Dec. 21 at Duke Hospital of lung cancer. He was 39.
After joining the University in 1999, Higgins served as director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Romance Studies in 2000. Colleagues say he was admired by his students and fellow professors.
"He brought a real balance between investing in his students and investing in his research," said department chair David Bell, who described Higgins as a kind man and careful listener. "One fed off the other. I felt that was very characteristic of the way he worked."
Higgins, who specialized in colonial Spanish American literature, recently published his first book, which won the A.B. Thomas Award for Excellence from the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies in 2001.
"It seems like such a tragedy. It happened so fast," said Margaret Greer, director of graduate studies for romance studies. "I've had messages from people who knew him... just devastated by the news because he had all the promise of being a brilliant scholar, just at the takeoff point of his career."
Higgins' students deeply admired him, Greer said, citing one incident that occurred during the scholar's first year at the University. After one student had approached Greer asking for advice on obtaining a rotary fellowship in the Andes, Greer sent her to Higgins.
"He just sat down and worked with somebody he'd never seen before and helped her develop this very well informed and convincing application," Greer said. "That was my first indication of what a dedicated teacher, as well as a really well informed scholar, he was. He knew his field, and he gave his heart to teaching it to students."
Graduate student Suzanne Buck, who was also Higgins' student as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, echoed that sentiment. Describing him as "a breath of fresh air," Buck said she appreciated Higgins' direction of her senior thesis at UNM.
"I went to get his advice, but he thought I was asking him [to advise me], so he agreed wholeheartedly," Buck said. "He gave me all of this time and attention on something that wasn't even his field. That was how he was to his students."
Prior to coming to Duke, Higgins served as a lecturer and assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico. He was also a teaching fellow at the University of Pittsburgh while he worked on his doctorate and served as a Spanish language teaching assistant while earning his master's degree at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. He was also an English language teaching assistant at the Instituto de Bachillerato Churidinaga in Bilbao, Spain.
Higgins, who was married less than five years ago, is survived by his wife, Winifred Griffin.
Colleagues plan to hold a memorial service for Higgins on campus in late January or early February.
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