Hoy to Leave Expos for NYU

Pat C. Hoy II, senior tutor of Mather House and senior preceptor in Expository Writing will be leaving Harvard to join the faculty at New York University next fall.

Hoy said last night that he accepted an appointment as director of the Expository Writing program and as professor of English at NYU two weeks ago.

Hoy, who was selected by a nationwide search conducted by NYU last year, said his job will be to direct NYU's first-year expository writing program which, unlike Harvard's, lasts two semesters and is taught by graduate students. Hoy had taught Expos 17: "The Essay," at the College.

"It's a terrific offer," said Leith Hafrey, master of Mather House. "It combines his reputation for skill training and confers academic prestige."

Hoy said he will teach NYU English Department graduate school courses on the essay and on the limits of composition theory beginning his second year at the school.

After four years at the College as a teacher and tutor, Hoy said, he is ready to go to NYU to "create a world in which...to give people the opportunity to be magnificent."

Hoy said he had chosen to come to Harvard after a 14-year stint teaching modern literature at West Point to "fend [himself] from his managerial urges," and to spend time writing and teaching.

While at Harvard, Hoy has devoted time to his writing and has published several books and articles, including "Instinct for Survival," a collection of essays. Now, he said, he'd like to satisfy some "managerial urges" at NYU.

"I am going without any regrets and I'm happy to move on," said Hoy.

Alfred E. Guy '86, associate director of Expository Writing at NYU said the English department there is happy to gain Hoy. But teachers in Harvard's Expository Writing office and residents and tutors of Mather House said they will miss him.

"We're sad to be losing him," said Hafrey, who became master of Mather this year along with Sandra Nadaff. "But at the same time, the offer sounds like a hard one to pass up."

"[Hoy] is very well-liked and he gets very high evaluations," said Kathleen E. Duffin, a preceptor in Expository Writing. "A teacher who is able to make then kind of contact with students would be missed."

Benjamin W. Rotenstreich '93, who took Hoy's writing class as a first-year, said Hoy's was a role-model for Expos students.

"He got to know your style of writing...and pushed you to your ability," Rotenstreich said.