The Dickinsons

Described in a Kennedy School memo as "a curious and restless couple," Charles C. Dickinson III and Joanne W. Eaton Dickinson have studied and taught at universities all over the world.

According to Kennedy School memos, the Dickinsons have held posts at universities from West Virginia to China. Kennedy School Special Projects Assistant Geralyn White '84 wrote in a memo that the couple "have inherited oil money and still have holdings in Texas." The Dickinsons' family oil business in Wichita Falls, Tx. "consumes half of their time," the memo says.

"The rest of their energies are [spent] finding worthwhile philanthropic ventures and studies," White wrote. They have contributed to educational institutions in China, Oxford, Rome and Paris. Charles Dickinson has held posts at 10 different universities--including two at Harvard--across the country and around the world, according to his entry in Who's Who in America.

Dickinson, who graduated from the Divinity School in 1980, was a curatorial associate of manuscript collections at the Andover-Harvard Theological Library from 1981-'86.

Currently he holds the position of lecturer on psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, although he has neither a degree in psychology or psychiatry or an affiliation with a Harvard hospital. Until his Med School appointment, Dickinson had never held a post in psychiatry, according to Who's Who.

Who's Who also reports that Dickinson received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1958. The book also says he holds a divinity degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Joanne Dickinson, a native of North Carolina, has a degree in jurisprudence from West Virginia University, according to an article in The New York Times. According to The Times, she practices law and teaches poetry on the side.

Kennedy School officials said in the memo that the couple donated $150,000 last year to Harvard's Erik Erikson Center, a psychology research institution.

The couple first became interested in donating a fund to the loan forgiveness program after Director of Information Deane W. Lord told the Kennedy School to invite them to a fundraiser. Although White's memo names Lord as the person who "got them to give 150K to the Erik Erikson Center," Lord denied yesterday that she had ever solicited a donation from the Dickinsons.

Lord said yesterday that she does not know the couple well and has met them at two parties.

The Dickinsons could not be reached for comment yesterday.