Philip E. Ray

Philip Ray retired from Connecticut College in 2015 after 40 years of service. As Associate Dean of Juniors and Sophomores, Philip Ray acted as adviser to fifty percent of upper-class students, including transfer students. He assisted them with selection of their majors and assigns their advisers. An associate professor of English, Professor Ray taught science fiction and fantasy courses at Connecticut College for 25 years.

Dean Ray was also in charge of scholarships and fellowships, such as the Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall and Truman scholarships.

He taught one course each semester. "Alien Beings, Alien Worlds," open to first-years and sophomores, presenting fantasy and science fiction as diametrically opposed genres of popular literature that arise at the same time and in the same place, Britain during the 1880s and 90s, and offering fantasy writers ranging from Robert Louis Stevenson to Anne Rice; and science fiction writers from H.G. Wells to Orson Scott Card.

"Advanced Fantasy, From Treasure Island to Bluebeard's Castle: American and British Fantasy,1883-1979," taught in the spring semester for sophomores, juniors and seniors, was a study of the development of fantasy in Britain and America from Robert Louis Stevenson to Angela Carter. Its emphasis was on the sub-genres of fantasy such as Christian fantasy (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien) and historical and mythic fantasy (T.H. White).