Your Memories
Please send your thoughts and memories of Emory Elliott to James Lin james.lin@ucr.edu and share here.
My name is Louise Walsh and I am a second year Ph.D. candidate in the Clinton Institute of American Studies in University College Dublin, Ireland. I completed my M.A. degree in University College Cork under Dr. Lee Jenkins, who was well known to Prof. Elliott.
During my M.A. year I gave a paper at the Transatlantic Studies Association Conference in UCC. It was my first proper academic conference and I was extremely nervous. I felt completely out of my depth having comparatively little experience, and indeed knowledge, compared with the other conference participants and attendees. I had struggled with one of the questions posed to me following my paper, and was feeling a little glum about the whole experience when Prof. Elliott raised his hand. His kind words about my paper, directed to me and the rest of the room, lifted my spirits to no end. He approached me afterwards and continued with his warm encouragement and words of advice. He also gave me his card (which I still treasure) for future reference.
Today, I had started the process of putting together an academic conference and thought of Prof. Elliott as a possibly plenary speaker. I pulled out his card from my wallet and logged on the Internet. It was only then that I learned of the tragic news of his passing. I know I only had the briefest of meetings with Prof. Elliott but it impacted upon me, and my confidence as a scholar, indelibly. I owe him a debt of gratitude for that.
My deepest sympathies are with his family, colleagues and students at this time.
Very best wishes,
Louise Walsh
IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholar
Ad Astra Scholar
Clinton Institute of American Studies
UCD
Belfield
Dublin 4
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I still imagine I see Emory's energetic bounce as he strides down to the English Department, past Virgil's Grove. It is incomprehensible to me that we won't glimpse his person on campus again. Someone said at the spontaneous memorial for him in the English Department, not even twenty-four hours after his passing, that there is a "hole in the world." That day, the news also took my breath away and I wept openly in front of my students. They were kind because they understood that a special spirit of kindness had passed, and it was our collective loss.
I assumed that I could always send an email to him, asking him to help me unsnarl some tricky diplomatic issue, or walk into the CIS and rant away--knowing that he understood the humor and affect underlying this-or- that expression of frustration. I was always stunned at how quickly he would respond to emails: wasn't he somewhere in between Paris , Rio or Beijing ? How could he respond so fast? He really didn't have to.
But it did not matter who you were, or where you stood on UC's Jacob's Ladder--whether you were the Chancellor, a professor or a member of the staff, he was eager to be both patron and friend. I worked closely with Emory and Laura on a three year grant shared by UCR and UCI. The process had its dramas, its ups and downs, but Emory watched my back and had complete faith that it would all work out. In an institution where I have often felt so alien, his faith in my capacity to adminster this was immensely important. It was also healing.
Emory tried his best to make a place at the Banqueting Table for many of us. (Some of us get there, but sit awkwardly. Some of us watch from the edges). Emory was aware of these registers of dis-placement: perceptive, kind, accepting.
He had a heart that was wide open, wide open.
I hope his Spirit senses how much he is missed.
Anik Dhonobad , Emory, you were one in a million.
Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.
Piya Chatterjee
Associate Professor
Department of Women's Studies
University of California at Riverside
May 19, 2009
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The Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association shares the sadness of our colleagues in the United States and other countries, following the passing of our esteemed friend Emory Elliott. He was an enthusiastic and gregarious participant in our 1998 conference, having been invited as keynote speaker. We remember him not just for his definitive achievements in scholarship, but also for his genuine interest in everyone whom he encountered. His was an authentic charisma. Like so many, I will always be personally grateful for his generous professional encouragement. As others have already eloquently suggested in this exchange, his wonderful influence will remain alive in many ways, not least through our continuation of the conversations that matter.
Dr Heather Neilson
(Past President, ANZASA)
May 15, 2009
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I have just posted the condolences of colleagues in Utrecht . Their words make me realize how wordless I have felt since first hearing of Emory's passing. How to you express what you cannot grasp? Like others, I keep thinking I see him walking ahead of me on the path between the Interdisciplinary building and HMNSS. I catch myself looking forward to our next meeting concerning the Feminisms and Intersectionalities conference in late May. It seems as if there is no way to absorb such an enormous loss to our daily lives at UCR. Something has shifted, like the ground in L'Aquila , Italy , where an earthquake followed Emory's passing by a few days. It is too much to take in even over a few weeks. What is clear is that Emory left a beautiful example of how to be a colleague, a teacher, a mentor, an ambassador, a friend. Translating his vision of inclusive community with new students and new colleagues in the difficult times to come will be a challenge and fitting way to commemorate Emory's everyday generosity at UCR.
Margie Waller
Professor of Women's Studies and Comparative Literature
UC Riverside
May 1, 2009
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On behalf of Sandra Ponzanesi, Joost Raessens and Frank de Glas, we would like to communicate our deepest sorrow for the disappearance of a wonderful director and academic. We have all enormously appreciated his support, guidance, and warmth during our Utrecht University-UCR exchange period in 2004-2005-2006.
Sandra Ponzonesi, Joost Raessens, Frank de Glas
Media and Culture Studies/ OGC,
Utrecht University
April 29, 2009
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On behalf of the community of Humanities scholars at Utrecht University I wanted to let you know how very sad we are about the death of Emory Elliott. Through the exchange with the Center for Ideas and Society our own OGL scholars have come to know Emory as a great scholar and wonderful person. This death is a great loss to the profession and to the Utrecht-California relationship. He will be sadly missed in Utrecht.
Martin Prak
Director OGC, Utrecht University
April 29, 2009
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Like Emory, I decided to come to UCR after teaching many years at Princeton. I must say, as well, that Emory is one of the reasons I made my decision. When I visited UCR for an interview about two years ago, I asked Emory how he felt after leaving Princeton. He said (roughly--I am taking this only from my own memory) this:
"I feel great. Never looked back. I've always felt I can make a difference at UCR. I can teach some bright kids who don't have the background of the Princeton students, and who also don't quite have their confidence. But they are diamonds in the rough, and a person can really make a difference with them. I also feel especially free at UCR. I can teach what I feel passionate about--and we all know, of course, that teaching from passion makes for the best teaching."
When I arrived at UCR last August I called up Emory to have lunch. We talked about many friends whom we knew in common from Princeton, and we talked about exciting things to do at UCR. I still can't fully comprehend that he is no longer with us. It feels somehow as if that heart attack was a mistake, and that we should be able to back up and run March 31st again--doing it right this time, avoiding a cruel twist of chance that never should have happened.
Perry Link, Chancellorial Chair for Innovation in teaching Across Disciplines
Distinguished Professor, Chinese
Department of Comparative Literature & Foreign Languages, UC Riverside
USA
April 25, 2009
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I was one of Emory's many dissertation students (at Princeton in the early 1980s). He was generous and supportive, taking me on at a key juncture when I was in great academic need. In the years after my degree, he was a trusted mentor and friend at every stage. He was one of the really good people in our profession, and I will miss him.
Tim Morris
Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
English Department, University of Texas at Arlington
USA
April 21, 2009
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Emory Elliott was one of the nicest individuals I have ever met. Out of the blue, he invited me to lunch two years ago, as he put it "to get to know me better." It was truly a delightful lunch in which he shared with me his background growing up in a primarily African American community. We exchanged stories about our childhoods. Among the traits that I admired most about Emory were that although he was an imminent scholar of international reputation, you would never know it upon meeting him, based on his general demeanor. He was down to earth, kind, and interested in the ordinary things of life as well as the intellectual ones. My impression, and all that I have learned about him from others, is that he was a man of integrity and great honesty. I came to greatly admire his commitment to diversity and his special initiatives to bring people of color into the doctoral program in English at UCR.
Emory was a "one of a kind" and unique individual who contributed immensely to scholarship and research, to diversity and mentoring of graduate students at UCR, and to innovative and visionary leadership as Director for the Center for Ideas and Society. I am very glad to have had the opportunity to know him.
Ruth M. Jackson, Ph.D.
University Librarian, UC Riverside
USA
April 20, 2009
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Emory's passing away is really a shock. Words failed me when I got the news. Even now I cannot accept this. Whenever I wander around the campus, I am always thinking of seeing him in a classroom or a lecture. Even now I am always expecting him to pass by my office and say hello.
I am a visiting scholar at Center for Ideas and Society at UCR. The first time I met him was at a conference held by China Association for the Study of American Literature in Chongqing , China in Nov. 2006. But before that, I had sent emails to him and asked him several question about my dissertation on Early American Literature. I didn't expect that he could answer my emails so quickly and so in detail because he was so busy. Besides, he also sent me a book to help me with my bibliography. It is his generous help that encouraged me to finish my Ph.D. dissertation. The second time I saw him is at Center of Ideas and Society as the resident fellow here. He was very nice to offer help because he understood it is hard for a new comer.
There are so many sweet memories about him. Just like Zhang Chong, an English professor at Fudan University , wrote, "He remains in our heart as a dear friend, an excellent scholar and an upright man." It is great loss for Chinese Academia that we don't have Emory any more because he was a true friend and a true scholar. On behalf of his friends in China I pray for his soul and hope that the previous words can pass our most profound grief to his family.
Rest in Peace. (yuan ta an xi - Chinese pinyin )
Litian Zhu
Associate Professor
Resident Fellow at Center for Ideas and Society
Southeast University, Nanjing
China
April 20, 2009
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Just like everyone at UCR, I was deeply saddened to hear the news of Emory Elliott's passing. The moment I heard about it, I knew that we had lost a very distinguished man - a man who passionately expressed his love for the humanities and demonstrated great enthusiasm for new ideas.
I remember a specific conversation with him at the Barn last summer. Over lunch, we discussed the state of feminism in the 21 st century. I just loved our lively conversation and his enthusiasm. At that moment, I realized he was a true feminist. I also learned in my earlier interactions with him that part of his agenda was to empower women of color in our campus, and maybe even all over the world. Days after our conversation about feminism, we began working together along with two other senior colleagues, as PIs of a project we entitled "Feminisms and Intersectionalities in the 21 st Century." We submitted a proposal to the Ford Foundation and started planning a spring conference. Working with him in the organization of this conference and grant proposal taught me so much about his intellectual generosity and curiosity.
Emory was a wonderful person and it is a devastating loss for UCR and for his family. But we will rejoice knowing that his legacy at the Center for Ideas and Society will go on, even after his passing.
Alicia Arrizon Professor and Chair of Women's Studies Department
Alicia Arrizon
Professor and Chair
Department of Women's Studies, UC Riverside
USA
April 20, 2009
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Thank you for creating a web space where we can remember Emory. He was my dissertation director, my mentor, and my friend. It will take me some time to really think about what I'd like to write on the site but, in the meantime, I've attached a photo for the gallery.
Thank you again,
Deborah Sims
Doctoral Candidate, ABD
English Department
University of California, Riverside
April 18, 2009
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I first met Emory Elliott during a conference held at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in 1999. He chaired the session in which I presented my paper. The format of the Conference demanded that Chairs should read the paper in advance and introduce the speakers. Emory had taken his job very seriously. He not only introduced me, he also highlighted the main issues of my paper, going into meticulous detail, analyzing, commenting and appreciating what he had read. His reading of my paper was so insightful and sympathetic that it made me realize what a committed scholar is required to do and the effort that one needs to put into what is generally considered a mere academic exercise. That was an eye-opener and I will always be grateful to Emory for opening up doors to me that I did not even know existed!
Subsequently, I met Emory at Dartmouth where he and I were resource persons at Don Pease's American Studies Institute. It was a brief but pleasant meeting and I fondly recall a boisterous evening spent with younger scholars at a pub, laughing and joking over giant-sized Margaritas.
A year later, at a memorial held in honor of Nellie McKay, again, I ran into Emory at Madison , Wisconsin . It was a day-long emotionally-charged event organized by Nellie's colleagues. As we sat around the same table for lunch at a local restaurant with Frances Foster, Susan Friedman and some others, Emory and I did some catching-up amid somber reminiscences of Nellie.
These were chance meetings but I exchanged emails frequently with Emory thereafter. When I invited him to give a keynote at the MELUS-MELOW conference at Chandigarh in 2007, he graciously agreed. I think it was his first visit to India . We enjoyed his visit and he was appreciative of all that he saw, the conference we had invited him to, and the people he interacted with.
On one of my trips to the US , I also had the opportunity to visit his department at Riverside on a speaking engagement. What stands out in my memory is a dinner with Emory and another colleague at a brightly lit Mission Inn all dressed up for Thanksgiving. I have some pictures to keep the memory alive. There was an air of festivity with Christmas carols decorative lights and happy people all around. Emory came across as a very gentle, amiable soul, very much a 'family' man, and he talked of his wife, his daughters and their families. He and his wife had recently returned from a visit to their children.
Emory was a good man and a committed academic. Like all those who knew him well, I too am saddened at his demise.
On behalf of his friends in India I pray for the peace of his soul and that his family may have the strength to bear this loss. Rest In Peace.
Shanti, shanti, shanti.Manju Jaidka
members of MELUS-MELOW
India
April 18, 2009
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Speaking selfishly, I will miss Emory most as a wise counselor, an intelligent and compassionate presence. He was so distinguished in his area of research, but had the capacity to put his own achievements and activities into the background and really listen. I'm sure I speak for many junior (or once-junior) professors when I remember how he would focus in, hear what I was thinking/feeling, and then come up with an idea that helped me see how to move forward. Not many conversations - he fed many mouths - but each one meant something.
It is shocking that Emory can no longer, as Ram Dass once put it, "Be here now "; I will try to be more present in the way Emory was for me, in my own efforts at doing just that .
Gary Dymski, Executive Director of UC Center Sacramento and Professor of Economics
Department of Economics, UC Riverside
USA
April 17, 2009
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It is very hard to imagine our campus without Emory - but I think, in a way, we can't look around and not see him everywhere. He helped transform his field, our campus, and the academy. We've lost a colleague, a friend, a teacher - but also a powerful advocate for change and innovation in the humanities. Emory made time not that long ago to sit with me - and listen to me talk about the things I'd been up to. He wanted to know how I was doing, what I needed from UCR to support my work. It strikes me how he always did that - made time to learn about what we'd been doing, what we needed in order to encourage us - especially in those impulses to break from the disciplinary mold I suspect he did this, too, in order to take the temperature on what was going on - where work needed to be done at the institutional level to support us in our work as teachers, students, writers. And yet he was doing so many things - in so many places. Like many, I am amazed by the hours he must have created to find the time not just for his work, but to listen to and support the work of others. When I got the job offer from UCR, those in the know said "Emory Elliott is an amazing colleague - you are really lucky to be going there." That was, and continues to be quite profoundly true.
Jennifer Doyle, Associate Professor
Department of English, UC Riverside
USA
April 16, 2009
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Emory's passing away came as a shock. I first heard him deliver the keynote at the MELUS-MELOW International Conference at Chandigarh in 2007. The second meeting was a brief one at the MLA 2007 in Chicago in which he readily showed his inclination to have me over for a talk at the UC-Riverside, Center for Ideas and Society. Emory hosted me at the UC-Riverside on March 3-4, 2008. He not only introduced me but also offered insightful suggestions vis-à-vis my talk on 'Walt Whitman and Sufism.' I am particularly saddened as Emory had promised me to do a pre-publication review of my forthcoming book on Whitman. Emory's hospitality was matchless and so was his candor and forthrightness while sharing about his growth as a person and scholar. That early evening dinner on March 4 is etched deep in my memory as Emory had hosted it in the quaint Mission Inn hotel. He shared the story of his life despite his appointment elsewhere that night-the making of a phenomenal University Professor who had tremendous outreach with enviable degrees of academic commitment and a vision unmatched across the globe. Before he departed that night, he promised to visit our part of the world located in the foothills of Himalayas .
Manju Jaidka's mail followed by Susan Friedman's about Emory's death couple of days back shook me out of my complacency as it was hard to face it. But then I simply asked myself: 'Can such an illustrious life ever die?' Not that I got my answer instantaneously; I rather get it on day-to-day basis. The more I read about Emory and what he has done to American academia, I realize that death is a fallacy. Emory is/will be a presence, a beacon light for scholars (who happened to cross his path) within and outside the United States of America for all times to come.
Roshan Lal Sharma, Senior Lecturer
Postgraduate Department of English, Government College SOLAN (H.P.)
INDIA
April 13, 2009
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