Dwight and Sylvia Lang in front of Bixby Bridge in Big Sur, California.

Traveling the Ducks way

Dwight and Sylvia Lang have a love story made for the ages.

They met on the first day of summer in 1969 at a church festival in Sacramento, California. Dwight had decided to leave seminary training for the Catholic priesthood that spring and then Sylvia caught his eye. The couple married just two years after they began dating, and pursued higher education together as first-generation, low-income students. In 1983, they graduated from the University of Oregon, each earning a PhD in sociology.

Dwight and Sylvia Lang during commencement in 1983.

“We were so grateful to Oregon of all the schools we applied to because we wanted to stay together,” Sylvia says. “That was the only school that took both of us at the same time for the same PhD program.”

Pictured left: The Langs on their wedding day in 1971; Pictured right: The Langs 50 years later in 2021 celebrating their Golden anniversary.

At the UO, Dwight and Sylvia became a study group of two. Members of their cohort nicknamed them the “dynamic duo,” while others joked that their relationship would end in divorce. It never did; instead, the couple blossomed in Eugene. Working with sociology students and students across campus, they helped start the UO’s first graduate student union in 1978. They became runners, went to concerts and lectures, traveled to Florence on the coast, and fully immersed themselves in the eclectic energy of a college town.

“I don't think we could have done it if we had been separate. We were better together,” Sylvia says. “There is something very important about marriage, but even more important when you're an academic . . . because we can talk the same language and not have to explain every single nuance.” 

When they left the university, they continued conducting research in their fields, first in California and then eventually at the University of Michigan (UM). Dwight’s book On Social Mobility is considered a forerunning text in the field of higher education for its focus on first-generation students, and his essay Singing the First-Generation Blues is similarly acclaimed. Sylvia’s work advanced research in everything from the AIDS epidemic, children’s tobacco use, vehicle legislation, cancer protocols, and geriatric health. Her studies on Michigan’s transportation system helped block legislation that would have capped the age someone had the right to hold a driver's license. The couple loves what they do. 

“Sociology is everything, and it is everywhere. The social context of how we behave as human beings is who we are,” Sylvia says. 

Dwight credits the UO with giving them the foundation to thrive in their careers. The couple is particularly grateful to former faculty members who welcomed them during their time at the university. In fact, they recently took a trip to visit two former professors, Donald Van Houten and Benton Johnson, who have since passed away. Sociologists Benton and Mimi Johnson plus Jean Stockard were the first persons they met at the UO.

They are also active members of the UO Alumni Association. The couple began travelling with the organization in 2019 after a brochure advertising a trip to the Mediterranean found its way into their mailbox.

“I first heard about the Mediterranean Sea and what Europe was all about in high school and college history classes, and I remember saying to myself ‘I’m going there someday’,” Dwight says. 

Since then, the couple has been on four trips with the UO Travel program, which partners with trusted travel agencies to bring Ducks together and promote educational and cultural experiences all around the world. Dwight and Sylvia have sailed the crystal blue waters of Tahiti, coasted through Hawaii and the French Polynesian Islands, and meandered through the streets of London and Oslo. Standout landmarks have included the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Abbey Road. Of course, the two sociologists also had to make a stop during their London to Oslo trip to visit the graves of Karl Marx and his wife Jenny in Highgate Cemetery. 

Dwight and Sylvia say that their most recent travels back to the Mediterranean may be their best one yet. It was a trip that was personal—they celebrated both Dwight’s birthday and their fifty-third anniversary together during the two-week excursion. 

During their anniversary dinner aboard Oceania’s Riviera, Dwight and Sylvia wore handmade corsages, and Sylvia showed off the necklace she crafted from a piece of glass she found on the beach of Corsica during their 2019 visit to the Mediterranean. Sylvia describes how the crew went above and beyond to accommodate their plant-based diets.

“They went to the nth degree. They went to other restaurants . . . brought us things from other parts of the ship just so that we could have our seven-course meal,” she says. “We had so much fun that night.” 

Later, they walked through the streets of Rome and explored the Vatican. Dwight was amazed by the Roman aqueducts and other advancements that were ahead of their time, and both he and Sylvia had a laugh learning that many of the cutthroat gladiators who fought in the arena at Pompeii were vegetarian just like them. 

At the Sistine Chapel, the tour guide taught them all about the hot-tempered artist behind the iconic fixture. Though deeply religious, Michelangelo conflicted with many clergymen—including the then-Pope, who he painted into the ceiling as a bare-bottomed cherub. A bishop that Michealangelo disliked faced a similar fate: he was painted into the artist’s depiction of hell.

Sylvia stresses just how incredible the tour guides have been at every destination they’ve visited. 

“Every guide we’ve ever had was astounding,” she says. “They’re from the area. They know their history.” 

Sylvia was especially moved by the trek to Pompeii where she was inspired to paint a view of Mount Vesuvius that looks like a woman lying on her side. Sylvia spent many years as an art docent for UM and has presented on Vesuvius before. She now feels that she “could give a talk so much more encompassing” having been to the site.

Finally, Dwight and Sylvia visited Crete and Athens, where they communed with the oracles at Delphi and joked that Dwight must have had a past life as a Greek Orthodox monk after viewing their monasteries. Their favorite part might have been walking up the massive granite stairs of the Acropolis.

“That was quite an experience,” Dwight says.

Sylvia agrees. “How many times do you get to give your husband something that good on his birthday?” 

Back home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dwight and Sylvia are enduring Ducks fans and were thrilled to see their 2024 victories against the Oregon State University Beavers, the Ohio State University Buckeyes, and the Michigan Wolverines. 

The duo are contributors to the Ann Arbor Observer and recently authored a story about local duck Louie who charmed the hearts of thousands as the sole white mallard duck hatched alongside his brown and yellow siblings. Dwight and Sylvia have their sights set on turning Louie’s tale into a children’s book—with a special shout out to the UO in the acknowledgements. 

“We’re Ducks,” Sylvia says. “So this is another way of saying ‘thank you, Oregon.’ What happened in Eugene between 1977 and 1985 was very significant for us. It shaped who we are in many ways.” 

“The UO was a place where we were transformed,” Dwight agrees. 

Sylvia and Dwight are considering traveling the British Isles next year with the UO Travel Program. If you want to join them, or are interested in another one of our iconic destinations all around the world, visit our website or contact Shannon Rose-Peterson, director of alumni initiatives, at shannonr@uoregon.edu. 

 — By Sage Kiernan-Sherrow, UO Advancement editorial and communications specialist
All photos courtesy of the Langs.