Oral history interview with Robert Rosenbaum, University Professor of Science and Mathematics, Emeritus. He also served as academic vice president, acting president, and chancellor at Wesleyan. In this first interview of two, Robert Rosenbaum and his wife, Marjorie Daltry Rosenbaum, discuss topics including: his early childhood living on a farm in Bloomfield, CT; formative years and education in Milford, CT; studying mathematics as an undergraduate at Yale; studying as a Henry fellow at St. John’s College in England; receiving his PhD from Yale; completing a teaching fellowship at Reed College in Portland, OR and subsequently teaching at Reed for 14 years; teaching mathematics at Wesleyan; the hiring process of Vic Butterfield for faculty; friends and colleagues Dick Winslow, Carl Schorske, and David McAllester; time as aerial navigator during World War II; visiting appointments at Swarthmore College and University of Massachusetts; Marjorie's appointment to an english teaching position at Wesleyan; Wesleyan's coeducation efforts; co-teaching courses with himself, Marjorie and Jon Barlow; the development of math and science PhD programs at Wesleyan