2012 Arts and Sciences Alumni Merit Award Recipient
Georgette Magassy Dorn, Ph.D., BA’59
Georgette Magassy Dorn grew up in Spain and Argentina. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Creighton University in 1959, a master’s in history from Boston College and a doctorate in history from Georgetown University in 1981. She joined the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress in 1969, and has been chief of the division since 1994.
Dr. Dorn is a nationally recognized leader in research on Latin American history who has used her knowledge and scholarship to advance Hispanic culture in America. In her varying capacities in the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, she has headed the reference service, been curator of the Archive of Hispanic Literature, developed comprehensive reading services and been responsible for innumerable bibliographies, collections and recordings of nearly 400 major writers and leading figures from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.
She has played a principal role in organizing symposia, lectures, concerts and programs bringing together the diplomatic community, foreign government officials, members of Congress, academics and scholars.
Dr. Dorn is a respected professional lecturer as well as prolific bibliographer, author and reviewer. She has held nationally elected offices on executive boards of several prestigious historical organizations, including the American Historical Association, the Conference on Latin American History and the American Catholic Historical Association. She serves on editorial boards and is a contributing editor on several scholarly publications devoted to American cultural history and Latin American studies.
Her career exemplifies the importance of research and academia, and the impact each has in serving the country and bringing awareness, appreciation and understanding of a significant minority population.