Faculty Emeriti Profile: Tom Dughi

3/20/2025

Tom Dughi taught at Ransom Everglades for 25 years, from 1996 until his retirement in 2021. This English teacher extraordinaire found his passion for literature in college and spent his years at RE sharing that passion with the many students he taught.

RE: Tell us a little about yourself.

TD: I grew up in Essex Fells, a small suburban town in northeast New Jersey and attended Columbia University, where I split my energies between academics and tennis. I also did a master's degree at Columbia University before transferring to Johns Hopkins University, where I earned my PhD. In college I never really considered any major other than English literature, and through my first year of graduate school, I focused mainly on modern literature. I gradually segued into the Renaissance, however, with a specialization in John Milton and 17th century literature.

RE: You taught at Ransom Everglades for 25 years and had many roles. What were they?
TD: English teacher, Junior Class Dean, Sophomore Class Dean, Head of the Honor Council and Assistant Tennis Coach.

RE: What did you teach at RE?
TD: Freshman English, Junior English, AP English Literature, Literature of Adventure, Crime Fiction and Literature of War

RE: How did you know you wanted to become a teacher?

TD: Honestly, I kind of fell into being a teacher. I knew I loved literature and talking about literature in the classroom (and out), but when I started grad school, I simply knew I wanted to study literature; I wasn’t really thinking in terms of a career. I got my first taste of teaching at Hopkins when I taught some composition classes, which I enjoyed, and then I was offered the chance to teach an intro to English literature class, which I really enjoyed. During a six-year stint as an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami, it gradually became clear that I was much happier in the classroom sharing ideas with students than researching and writing academic papers.

RE: How did you come to work at RE?
TD: Kind of by accident. I had never really thought about teaching in high school. I was between jobs, taking care of my one-year-old son and teaching tennis part-time when the mother of someone I was coaching at Royal Palm Tennis Club suggested I look into teaching at Palmer Trinity; I was also coaching an RE student, Amy Radell ’00, and her mother suggested that I look into RE. I ended up meeting with English Department Chair Barbara Bloy (as well as with the department chairs at Palmer and Gulliver). Although we hit it off, nothing came of our meeting initially. But that summer Dr. Bloy fell ill and was not going to be able to teach that year. The school needed someone who could step in and teach AP English Literature, and I had been teaching an Introductory English literature class at the University of Miami for six years, so they hired me to fill in for her for the year. I had a couple of weeks to prepare to teach two sections of AP and two sections of Freshman English, and although I had plenty of experience teaching college classes, I hadn’t actually been in a high school classroom in nearly 20 years. But I made it through with lots of support from a great English faculty, and I had an amazingly rewarding year. The rest, as they say, is history.

RE: What was your favorite thing about teaching at RE?

TD: My favorite part—and I’m sure most teachers at RE would agree on this—was the day-to-day interactions with a group of hard-working, intellectually engaged students, both in the classroom and working one-on-one drafting, revising and polishing essays. I was repeatedly amazed by the thoughtfulness and sophistication of our students, and by the energy and enthusiasm they brought to the classroom. From the time I started at RE, the emphasis was on discussion-based teaching, but over the years we became even more focused on the Harkness method. Many of my best memories are of sitting around the Harkness table in the Ransom Cottage sitting back and listening as my students dove into the task of analyzing novels like Frankenstein or Beloved, or lyric poems like John Donne’s “Love’s Alchemy” or James Wright’s "A Blessing.” At the end of each year, I was always amazed and moved by the many notes I received from students who deeply appreciated how much they had learned in my classes.

RE: What's a funny memory you have?

TD: One moment that stands out was the time a student asked if she could borrow my tie and wear it for good luck when she took the AP exam.

RE: What is one of one of your favorite recollections?
TD: There are many, but I’ll focus on a small one that stands for many. It came during a somewhat routine afternoon when my AP class was discussing Nawal El Saadawi’s "Woman at Point Zero." Becca Hadwin '18 was reading a passage aloud. She had a great ear and was very sensitive to the sounds of language. As she was reading, she got fully caught up in the rhythms of the passage and everything except her voice and the language of the passage fell away. When she stopped there was absolute silence; everyone in the class was mesmerized, and it took a minute or two before we could resume our normal conversation. I don’t think any of us had realized until that moment just how beautiful and moving the language of the passage was. It was a revelation that depended not only on the sensitivity of the reader but equally on the willingness of the class to surrender wholly to the moment, to invest themselves fully in their learning. At their best, and they were often at their best, my students at RE really cared about their education, and they contributed to an environment in which we could all learn from each other.

RE: What do you miss the most about RE?

TD: It’s a toss-up. Of course I miss the day-to-day discussions with students and helping them learn and grow; I miss tennis season, too, and getting to see the students in an entirely non-academic context. But I also greatly miss the day-to-day interactions with caring, supportive and talented colleagues. Everyone I worked with was generous with their time, not to mention with actual teaching materials. If you needed help with something, or just wanted to try out some ideas about a book or a classroom strategy, someone was always willing to lend a hand or an ear. We learned so much from each other. And if you just wanted to relax and hang out, good friends were always available.

RE: What have you been up to in retirement?
TD: In 2022, my wife Sue and I sold our house in Pinecrest and moved to the west coast of Florida, to Lakewood Ranch. Since then I’ve been enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle. But I keep busy enough. I take lots of long walks with Sue and Marley, our 6-year-old golden retriever. I spend time each morning tending to a backyard garden, where my wife grows vegetables and I grow lots of herbs. I’m reading more for pleasure—mainly contemporary novels—than I’ve had a chance to do in years. I have plenty of time to pursue my passion for cooking, Asian cooking in particular, and especially Sichuan food. I’m not only playing a lot of tennis; I even started playing competitively again—after nearly 45 years. And I’ve been working on my French. I’m determined to become fluent (or at least close).

Sue and I are traveling as much as possible to visit family and friends and see as much of the world as we can while we still can. We fly to Denver and L.A. regularly to visit our two sons, Josh ’13 and Matt ’10, and we’ve also taken some more ambitious trips: to St. Martin for our 40th wedding anniversary; to Paris and the Loire Valley for my 70th birthday celebration; to NYC for the U.S. Open and some Broadway plays; and to Maui in January with my brother and his wife because there are whales and sea turtles and great scenery and food. We’re currently looking forward to meeting up with Josh and Matt and Matt’s fiancé, Jay, at the Grand Canyon in May.

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RE founder Paul Ransom, circa 1903

Faculty Emeriti Profile: Tom Dughi

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