Gertrude Reif Hughes

Gertrude Reif Hughes, PhD, was Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at Wesleyan University, where she served as Chair of her Department and the Women's Studies Program. The author of Emerson's Demanding Optimism (1984), she published essays on American poets, including Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, H.D., and Adrienne Rich, as well as essays on Rudolf Steiner and feminist thought and on Steiner's Calendar of the Soul. A lifelong student of Anthroposophy, she is a former chair of the Board of Anthroposophic Press and former President of the Rudolf Steiner (summer) Institute, where she taught meditation for many years and served on its board. She was also a member of the board of Sunbridge College and a core faculty member of The Barfield School Masters Program at Sunbridge. As a child, she attended the New York City Rudolf Steiner School and later earned degrees from Yale University and Mount Holyoke College. Gertrude passed away January 5, 2022.