Plan II Honors Program

Director's Corner

Michael B. Stoff, Director
On Leave, Fall 2008

Mike Stoff

On May 17, 2008, at the Plan II Honors Commencement Convocation, President Bill Powers announced the appointment of Professor Stoff as the director of Plan II Honors through 2012. Michael Stoff served as the director ad interim from September 2006 until May 2008. Dr. Stoff is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of History. He received his doctorate from Yale University and serves as co-editor of the Oxford New Narratives in American History. Since 1998, Dr. Stoff has been involved with the Normandy Scholars program in which students study the Second World War in class and in Europe.

His publications include Oil, War, and American Security: The Search for a National Policy on Foreign Oil, 1941-1947; The Manhattan Project: A Documentary Introduction to the Atomic Ages; Naton of Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic; American Journey: The Quest for Liberty, The American Nation; and America. He is currently writing a book on the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. In 2008, Professor Stoff was honored by the Organization of American Historians by being named an OAH Distinguished Lecturer.

Alexandra Wettlaufer,
Associate Professor, French and Italian
Associate Director, Plan II Honors (on leave 2007-2008)
Acting Director, Fall 2008

Professor Alexandra Wettlaufer was educated at Princeton University (B.A., Comparative Literature), Columbia University (M.A., French; Ph.D. French/Comparative Literature). She has also been a Research Fellow at the Reid Hall Graduate Research Institute in Paris. She is currently a faculty affiliate of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies as well as Trice Professor in Plan II.

She is the author of Pen vs. Paintbrush: Girodet, Balzac and the Myth of Pygmalion in Postrevolutionary France (2001, Palgrave/St. Martin's Press) and In the Mind's Eye: The Visual Impulse in Diderot, Baudelaire and Ruskin. (Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 2002). She is currently at work on a book-length project on the figure of the female painter in English, French and American culture and literature, 1840-1860 and an article on Théodore Pavie’s Western “Orientalism” in his romantic tales of the Sabine Borderlands (1833-1861). She also maintains an original website including painting, architecture, fashion, caricature and a time line of historical, literary and artistic events from 1770-1900.

Alexandra Wettlaufer

Wendy Domjan ,
Senior Lecturer, Psychology
Acting Associate Director, Plan II Honors (2007-2008) and Fall 2008

Dr. Domjan received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests are in perception, cognition, and the psychology of religion.

She has been teaching for Plan II since 1999, offering the SS 301 in psychology and a junior seminar in psychology and religion. This fall, she will be teaching a freshman seminar on the psychology of optimism and virtue. Dr. Domjan received the College of Liberal Arts Harry Ransom Teaching Award in 2003, and the Plan II Chad Oliver Teaching Award in 2004. She is a practicing Jew, a community activist, a passionate reader of nearly everything, and a devoted fan of all forms of science fiction (especially Star Trek!).

Paul Woodruff (director 1991-2006) writes:

"I was pleased to hear that Michael Stoff has agreed to guide Plan II during the coming year. He is distinguished both in teaching and in research, and his delightful personality will sparkle in Plan II during this year of transition. I wish him a successful tour of duty.

And now it is time for me to say farewell as director. These fifteen years have been good to me; I have learned more from Plan II, by directing the program and teaching in it, than I learned in any previous fifteen years of my life. For the challenges Plan II gave me, and the never failing support of students, staff, and alumni, I am deeply grateful.

Plan II is rightly called the jewel in the crown of higher education in Texas, and it is deservedly admired nationally and internationally, wherever educators are asking what an ideal higher education would look like. Many people agree it would look like Plan II. They envy us for our steadfast devotion to the arts and the sciences, our emphasis on clear reasoning and effective communication, and our ability to attract outstanding students and teachers.

Crown jewels, however, are usually locked up in safe places. Plan II, if it is to continue to shine, must be out and about, always changing to meet new needs. My wish for all of you is this: Keep Plan II lively, keep the standards high, and make the most of what UT can offer."

—May 16, 2006

Dr. Woodruff's homepage
Undergraduate Studies homepage (vita, academic interests, biography)