Hans Gerhard Heymann, Ph.D.

Appalachian State University

Universities and colleges--Faculty

Dr. Richard D. Howe

1987

Biographical sketches

Boone (N.C.)

https://www.geonames.org/4456703/boone.html

1980s

2000-2010

Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus of English Hans Gerhard Heymann (December 21,1915-), college and university professor, was bornin Berlin and reared in Stettin, Pomerania, Germany (now a part of Poland), the son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Heymann (both deceased), who owned a grocery store and a nursery near Stettin. Heymann received his entire formal education in German schools and universi­ties: B.A. (Abitur), Stettin, Pomerania, in 1936; seven years of graduate study (1938-1940, 1947-1952) in English, history, and German-first state examination (Referen-darexamen), including philosophy (1950), second (pedagogic) state examination (Assessorexamen),(1951); Ph.D. in English and history, magna cum laude, with disserta­tion on Wordsworth's "The Excursion," from the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Univer­sity of Frankfort-on-the-Main, West Ger­many, in 1952. While a graduate student Heymann was drafted into the German Army in 1939 and after two years of training, he was com­missioned a lieutenant and served on the Russian front in 1941 and 1942. Later, while serving with the Afrika Corps in 1943 under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in North Africa, he was captured by the British and turned over to the Americans and sent to the United States. Although an officer, Heymann volunteered for work and served as an interpreter for German-English translation and later as a teacher of English at both Ruston, Louisiana, and Como, Mississippi. In 1944 he volunteered for work with the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, and also worked on several farms near Lexington, North Carolina. The kind reception he received in North Carolina at this time was one of the major reasons he decided to make his home in this state. Upon returning to his native land after the war, Heymann completed his formal education and decided to make the United States of America his "country of choice." Heymann accepted a position at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Caro­lina, in 1953, teaching both English and German. Even before he and his wife Christa and their two sons, Hans and Harald, became American citizens--which took the manda­tory five years--Dr. Heymann was appointed to full professor status and was named head of the department of English, speech, and dramatic art in 1957. While serving Lenoir-Rhyne College, Heymann made many sig­nificant changes and improvements in the department, too many to mention, but most importantly, he introduced a nationally ac­claimed English honors program. During the 75th anniversary of Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1966, the students dedicated their yearbook, the HACAWA, to Heymann. Their dedica­tion reads: To one who stresses academic excellence as a challenge to students to think, to reflect, to question; To one who expands the classroom to encompass the world, its problems, its destiny; To one who brings to the campus a deep sense of dignity, of worth, of purpose; Toone who stands for Truth; We, the Class of 1966, dedicate the HACAWA to Dr. Hans G. Heymann. During the summer of 1966, Heymann was a guest professor of the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst at the Uni­versities of Hamburg, Frankfort, and Freiburg, West Germany, lecturing and con­ducting research on Goethe and Wordsworth. When leaving Lenoir-Rhyne College, he received a letter of commenda­tion from its president and a plaque for "dis­tinguished service." In 1969 Dr. Heymann was invited to join the faculty of Appalachian State Univer­sity (ASU), as professor of English and direc­tor of the English honors program. He had been a visiting professor in the ASU depart­ment of English during both summer ses­sions of 1968. Heymann was instrumental in bringing departmental and interdisciplinary honors programs to ASU with initial funds amounting to $30,000 from the then North Carolina Board of Higher Education (now the Board of Governors). Over the years he has helped graduating English honor stu­dents win Rotary, Danforth Foundation, and other fellowships. In 1974 during the 75th anniversary of ASU, Heymann won an Out­standing Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Board of Trustees. In addition to his outstanding ability in teaching, Heymann is also a scholar who has written textbooks, articles, reviews, and sev­eral translations into German. During his exemplary tenure at ASU, Heymann was elected for a three-year term on the Faculty Senate and has served on and chaired numerous faculty and university committees. He also was professionally af­filiated with the Modem Language Associa­tion, the South Atlantic Modem Language Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Collegiate Hon­ors Council, and the North Collegiate Honors Council, and the North Carolina English Teachers Association, on whose board of directors he served from 1980-1983. Heymann's most recent Boone com­munity service has been mainly with the local Rotary club: chairman, Rotary Foundation Scholarship and Awards Committee; chair­man, Chan Gordon Memorial Scholarship Committee; member, District 767 Rotary Foundation Scholarship and Awards Sub-Committee, and adviser and coordinator for Rotary exchange students at ASU. Further­more, he was a charter member of the Boone chapter of the American Field Service, which sponsors exchange students on the high school level. Heymann had many other honors be­stowed on him. Among them are: The Tar Heel Pin, given by the government of Luther Hodges, and the Distinguished Service Cross First Class, awarded by President Gustav Heinemann of West Germany for Heymann's efforts to improve the relation­ship between the USA and Germany. This award was presented to him in 1974 at the ASU summer commencement exercises by Mr. Roland Gottlieb, the West German Consul-General. On the occasion of the Heymann's 30th anniversary on their arrival as immigrants in the USA, Dr. and Mrs. Heymann received a congratulatory letter from the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, and from Congressman James Broyhill. In addition, Governor James H. Hunt honored Heymann with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine "as one of North Carolina's outstanding citizens." Further­more, the administration of ASU honored Heymann with a special banquet and a plaque for his services as Director of the English Honors Program and named one of the Chancellor's scholarships for him. Dr. Heymann retired from ASU in May, 1984, after serving 15 years. In retire­ment, Heymann plans to do more hunting for duck and geese at the Outer Banks, go trout fishing in the Blue Ridge Mountains, play tennis and travel with Mrs. Heymann, and visit and vacation with their sons and their grandchildren, Amy, Gavin, and Wesley. Their oldest son, Hans, whose graduate work was interrupted by four years of service in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, holds three graduate degrees from ASU and is presently working for his doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is Director of Extension Services at Mitchell College in Statesville. Harald, a summa cum laude graduate of ASU, is a professor in the School of Dentistry of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he received his DDS degree in 1978. Sources: Who's Who in American Education (1954); Directory of American Scholars (1957); Out­standing Educators of America (1975); Personalities of the South, Creative and Successful Person­alities of the World; Dictionary of the World (London); International Scholars Directory (France); Hickory Daily Record, Watauga Democrat; The Appalachian; Appalachian State University files; and, personal interviews. - Dr. Richard D. Howe