Recently Retired Professor of Economics Eileen Stillwaggon Passes Away
Eileen Stillwaggon (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College)
By Katie Oglesby, News Editor
In early June, former professor Eileen Stillwaggon of the Economics Department passed away. She officially retired from the College in December of 2019, having served as a professor since 1994, and leaves behind a legacy of research on health and poverty in Africa and Latin America.
During the valedictory for Stillwaggon in April, following her retirement, the Chair of the Economics Department, John Cadigan, shared some words.
“I wish times were different and we could celebrate Eileen’s contributions to the department and the college in a better way,” he said. “As a colleague, she was always available to provide mentorship and advice, and her voice in our department will be missed. She loved her students, worked hard with them, and her absence will be felt acutely.”
This sentiment has been echoed after her passing.
Aside from teaching at Gettysburg College, Stillwaggon served as the chief economist of the American Indian Policy Review Commission in the United States Congress. She also held research positions in the Pan American Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the United Nations Office of Development Planning, and the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. She had an important leadership role in the International AIDS Economic Network and the Committee on Global Health of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. On top of that, she published two books (AIDS and the Ecology of Poverty and Stunted Lives and Stagnant Economies: Poverty, Disease, and Underdevelopment), ten book chapters, and 28 journal articles.
Assistant Provost for Student Scholarly Engagement Maureen Forrestal remarked on Stillwaggon’s achievements as a professor and a scholar, noting her dedication to the myriad of causes in her field of study.
“Many people ‘talk the talk’ with regards to embracing diversity and promoting human rights, but Eileen was one of the few who ‘walked the walk’ — both on a professional level through her scholarship and on a personal level through her work in developing countries, as well as her outreach to all of her students.”
Students and faculty at Gettysburg College will remember Eileen Stillwaggon for her commitment to her students and the College itself.
“Although she had much to be proud of as a teacher and a scholar,” Forrestal wrote, “I think she would see [her] students (and her children) as her true legacy.”
