Naomi Ritter Scholarship
Naomi Ritter, Professor Emerita of German at the University of Missouri, was a research associate in the Office of Affirmative Action at Indiana University Bloomington. Ritter, an advocate for the arts and the Jacobs School of Music, also worked as a freelance writer, often writing articles on events at the Jacobs School.
Naomi Ritter earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College in Drama in 1959, and her Ph.D. in German Literature at Harvard University in 1969. Her research fields included 19th and 20th century European Literature, Literature and the Other Arts, Modern German Literature, and Performance Studies. Her essays and reviews can be found in Arts Indiana, the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune, Bloomington Herald-Times, Indiana Alumni Magazine, IU Research and Creative Activity, Bloomington Voice, and Nuvo (Indianapolis).
She has served as the director of the German graduate program at University of Missouri and on the board for the Modern Languages Association. Her volunteer work was extensive as she participated in the efforts of NOW, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, ICLU, and the Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women.
The Jacobs School of Music is honored to award the Naomi Ritter Scholarship to students in the Choral Department with preference given to non-Caucasian and African-American students at the Jacobs School.