Office of Development and Alumni Relations > Archive > Categories: Alumni | Giving | Momentum

Alumnus Celebrates Professor’s Impact, Gift Names Center

By: Jeff Joiner | May 12, 2023

Dr. Rainer Schulte listening to Richard Kurjan speak at a podium during naming ceremony.
Richard Kurjan MA’82 (right) talks about his time as a student at UT Dallas and his experience studying with mentor Dr. Rainer Schulte (left) at a ceremony announcing Kurjan’s naming gift to the Center for Translation Studies.

The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas recently announced a significant gift from alumnus Richard Kurjan MA’82 to name the school’s Center for Translation Studies after its founder, Dr. Rainer Schulte. According to Kurjan, the gift acknowledges the world-renowned expert in literature translation who he credits with deeply impacting his life and career. The center will be called the Rainer Schulte Center for Translation Studies.

Kurjan talks about how his career as a financial services consultant was impacted by his education at UT Dallas and his time studying with Schulte.

“Rainer instilled in me the inseparability of source and context (in translation),” said Kurjan, a retired financial services consultant, at a celebration of the center’s new name. “He taught me how to think in that manner, and it enabled me to relate to my clients and prospects and to understand their needs.”

In 1975, Kurjan found himself in an unusual situation while searching for a university graduate program. He had applied to several schools with respected humanities programs, including Ohio University where he was invited to visit the school. Schulte, then an Ohio University professor of literature and foreign languages, spent an entire day recruiting Kurjan, who became convinced this was the person he wanted to study with. The only problem was, Schulte had just accepted a position as a professor of language and translation studies with a virtually unknown university in Texas — UT Dallas.

“Do you want to go there?” Kurjan recalled Schulte asking him.

Kurjan followed Schulte to Richardson, Texas, where he earned a master’s degree under the renowned educator. In 1978, Schulte established the UT Dallas Center for Translation Studies, which grew to become a leading program in the United States for the professional development of students and academics in the field of literary translation.

“This makes me think about the power and the associations that are inside a word,” Schulte said at the recent ceremony. “That’s what I have tried to cultivate with my students, and Richard Kurjan was one of my students who understood the importance of learning the internal creativity of words.”

In 2021, Kurjan and his wife established the Trish and Richard Kurjan Fund for the Center for Translation Studies to support Schulte’s continued work and the education of students in his field.

“Alumni are our most prized stakeholders,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the Bass School and the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair. “An educator’s true measure of success is different from the number of awards or accolades earned. The true measure of success is our students and their commitment to serving their communities, collectively and individually.”

Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, described the importance of alumni relations when announcing Kurjan’s gift that will named the center for Schulte.

Roemer continued: “A story like the one of Mr. Kurjan and Dr. Schulte is one that every educator dreams of being able to tell, and that’s why I am eternally grateful to our dedicated faculty who selflessly dedicate most of their waking hours to uplift the next generations.”