Varick Chittenden '63, M'66 is not only a native of the area; he is a student of it. He has made the region the focus of his professional career and his community involvement.

An English major and member of the men’s hockey team as a student, Chittenden is a retired professor of English at St. Lawrence's neighboring institution, SUNY Canton, and serves as president of the Grasse River Heritage Area Development Corporation. Through both activities, and involvement with Traditional Arts of Upstate New York (TAUNY), Chittenden has studied the St. Lawrence Valley's heritage, especially as it has been expressed through folk art and folk artists.

The Canton-based TAUNY, which Chittenden founded, serves as a hub for the study, preservation and promotion of North Country ways of life. He has organized programs on traditional and contemporary folk art, heirloom quilts, French and Mohawk influences, food customs, front-porch music, waterfowl decoys and many other expressions of regional folkways. Organizations ranging from local historical societies, libraries and galleries to the National Endowment for the Arts have benefited from his expertise and energy. He has published books, exhibition catalogs and articles, produced a radio series and been a grant reviewer for several organizations.

A descendant of some of the earliest settlers in the St. Lawrence Valley, he was awarded an Alumni Citation by St. Lawrence, for his many contributions to the region. Upon receiving the award, he credited the University with sparking his interest in local culture and giving him “two degrees, an inquiring mind and a source of artistic and cultural vitality.”