Beatrice Spade

Beatrice Spade, 71, passed away Saturday, July 14, 2012 at her Rocky Ford home. She was born on October 12, 1940 to Justin & Eva (Zumbrunnen) Spade in Rocky Ford, Colorado. 
    Beatrice worked at the Colorado State University – Pueblo starting on August 27, 1990 and retiring on June 8, 2012. Professor Beatrice Spade received a BA in History/Asian Studies from the University of Colorado in 1963; Mas in Asian Studies and Chinese History from the University of Hawaii and National Taiwan University in 1965 and 1967 respectively; and the PhD in History and East Asian Languages and Literature in 1981 from Harvard. She served at Harvard as an Instructor/Teaching Fellow in 1969-1971, was a Professor at Shandong University of China in 1981-1986 (with Fulbright funding for 1983-1985), and served at the then University of Southern Colorado beginning in 1990 in a part-time capacity. Dr. Spade began as a full-time Assistant Professor in 1993, rose to Associate Professor in 1995, and retired at the end of the spring 2012 term as an Associate Professor. Her publications varied from “Americans in Vietnam: An Oral History Project” to translator of Su Tong’s “The Birth of the Water God”, appearing in Chinese Experimental Fiction (Duke University Press). She advised hundreds of students  (and won two university-wide advising awards), and served as faculty advisor to the student history club Past Masters and the student national history honor society Phi Alpha Theta. She also served as history department chair, and many terms on Faculty Senate including some time on the Executive Committee; Dr. Spade also was the Senate representative to the State Board of Agriculture (the Governing Board for the University of Southern Colorado) during 1995-1997. She taught World History, specializing in Chinese History and Empires.          
    Fellow History Department Colleague Matt Harris shared that Bea “had a way about her” and was an amazing advisor who had handled the lion’s share of the department’s advising for many years. She also mentored handfuls of new faculty hires. She was beloved by many students. To this day students, many of whom graduated years ago, still ask about her and comment how much they enjoyed her classes.
    Just last year, she was recipient of the 2011 Faculty Excellence in Advising/Mentoring Award. Nominators noted her kind and gentle manner, knowledge of university and major requirements, and strong rapport with all the advisees that passed through her office. For Bea, advising was far more than approving course registration, but she considered how those semester classes would enhance a student’s academic career and life path. She provided excellent post-graduate advice for students seeking a specific occupation or preparation for graduate school. She was consistently accessible and welcoming to students and provided continuous support to the History Club and the local chapter of Phi Alpha theta, the national history honorary society. She is “justifiably renowned among generations of history majors for her careful advising, her unflagging mentoring, and her genuine affection and encouragements at the tough moments in life. 
    She was preceded in death by her parents, Justin & Eva Spade, and brother, Lawrence Spade. 
 

As per Beatrice request cremation has taken place and services will be held at a later date.