Many of Dr. Dean’s colleagues shared their memories.
• Kevin Kerrane, professor emeritus of English: “For
many years Jim and I lived just a block apart, and only about a half
mile from Memorial Hall, and it was always a pleasure to walk with him
to or from work. He was unfailingly genial, thoughtful and very
practical. While his academic interests were highly traditional, his
approaches to teaching were wonderfully innovative -- and even playful.
He and [his wife] Jenny were great supporters of drama at UD, and in
Jim's honor some of us are hoping to organize a play reading, open to
the public, in the spring--perhaps the first in an ongoing series. It
would be a good way to maintain his contribution to the life of our
community, while bringing together students and faculty (including
retirees).”
• Dee Baer, retired faculty member in the Department of English:
“I first met Jim when I was a graduate student in his class. I wrote a
paper on Frances Power Cobbe, a feminist reformer, philosopher and
Irish/Anglo writer in the 19th century. I went up to his office after
getting the paper back with an A marked on it, crossed out to a B+,
crossed out to an A-. I wasn't interested in challenging the grade, but
rather interested in knowing what he'd been thinking, and why he'd left
traces of his grading conundrum on the paper! After a short discussion,
Jim said, ‘It sounds like a paper you wrote because you'd like to teach
about this writer and her period….’ And I said, ‘Well, of course, you
know I'm in the L&P track here.’ Jim looked a bit confused and asked
me what L&P was -- Literature and Pedagogy. I explained that it was
one of several master’s level tracks that the department offered and
the one that I was working through. He hadn't known what L&P was
(which told me a lot about my other professors' responses to my work)
and asked me to fill him in. That began an engaging relationship that
focused on students, literature and and how to connect the two, which
lasted through the years I was an instructor in the department, acting
director of the Writing Center, Writing in the Disciplines consultant,
as well as instructor for ENGL 205 at the Wilmington campus. Sitting in
on his ENGL 205 class, with his blessing, gave me great ideas for
engaging even older working students in this ancient, but relevant,
territory. His door was always open. A congenial, generous and very
good man and teacher. I'll always smile when I think of him.”
• Tom Leitch, Unidel Andrew B. Kirkpartick Jr. Chair in Writing: “It's
hard for me to write about Jim Dean because after all these months, I
still can't believe that he's gone. As other colleagues have said, and
many others could say, he was remarkably kind, perhaps the kindest
academic I've ever known. Jim was self-effacing to a fault. During his
tenure as associate chair, he never courted controversy, but he didn't
shrink from making hard decisions either. Along with his family, his
students meant the world to him. And he interacted with those students
in a wide variety of ways: as a classroom teacher to undergraduates, as a
mentor to graduate students, as an adviser to students who found their
way to the associate chair's office and as dramaturg, inspiration and
gentle encourager to everyone who took part (or parts) in the play
readings he loved to organize. I miss the violin and piano duets Jim and
I practiced weekly 25 years ago, the gossip-free stories (Jim hated
gossip) we swapped as neighbors on the third floor of Memorial Hall and
Jim's subversively quiet sense of humor. I'd say that his most notable
teaching accomplishment was getting me started in Sakai, but I'll bet
lots of other people have nominees of their own. The world is darker for
his departure, and brighter for the life he shared with us.”
• Lois Potter, professor emerita of English: “Even
before I met Jim Dean, I heard graduate students talking about him,
always describing him as someone who was known to care about students.
This turned out to be absolutely right. When I started trying to do
things that would bring students and faculty together, he was always the
most eager participant. Staged readings, play readings, Renaissance
banquets, the Robin Hood conference, the Medieval-Renaissance colloquium
-- he was always there, always supportive. Just thinking about those
postcolloquium meals with faculty and grad students in the Crab Trap or
Ali Baba makes me feel warm inside. Working with him on the job search
that brought us two of our most distinguished colleagues, I found him
not only perceptive but immensely thoughtful and kind. It was a pleasure
to know someone who was so thoroughly involved with his subject, his
students, and his department -- a lovely person. Jim could be very
eloquent -- as when he persuaded the department to let us appoint two
superb Renaissance scholars when we had advertised only for one. And he
was always pleased at any success that a student achieved and made a
point of telling others about it. Much student behavior that annoyed
others struck him simply as funny, perhaps because he had children of
his own. Just writing about him, I find that I'm hearing his soft,
diffident voice, which never said anything bad about anyone, and I think
it's telling me that I've said quite enough.”
• Chris Penna, professor of English: “Along with the
delightful play readings, his collegial generosity and his unfailing
good humor, which so many have commented on, Jim also had a love of all
things having to do with Philadelphia sports, especially the Phillies.
We shared many a chat and many a long email exchange performing close
readings of box scores and analyzing (often bemoaningly) the Phillies'
prospects. I thought often of Jim this past October when the Phillies
made their tantalizing and ultimately disappointing World Series run. I
think it would have delighted and exasperated him to no end.”
• Steve Bernhardt, Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr. Chair Emeritus in Writing and former department chair:
“Jim was an unfailing supporter of students, always committed to
improving his teaching and providing rich classroom experiences. He was
totally unselfish, ready to work toward a stronger, fairer department
and University without regard for what might benefit him personally. He
gave freely of his time to committee work and brought wise counsel to
department deliberations. He worked assiduously at his medieval
scholarship, with strong contributions to the field and deeply informed
teaching.”
•Jerry Beasley, professor emeritus of English and former department chari:
“Jim and I worked closely together, as he was associate chair when I
was department chair in the early 2000s. I always counted on him for
wise counsel. He was a kind and good man, really smart and generous. His
dedication to his students was exemplary, and his enthusiasm for play
readings bringing faculty members and graduate students together
contributed greatly to the fine collegiality and supportive atmosphere
in the department that he cared so much about.”
• Mary Richards, professor emerita of English: “In my
case, Jim's reputation preceded my arrival at U. D. My former colleague
at the University of Tennessee, John Hurt Fisher, himself a Chaucer
scholar, had spoken highly of Jim on several occasions. Jim's modesty
belied his acumen and breadth of learning. As time passed, Jim' s
excellence as a teacher and mentor became ever more apparent. His former
students have flourished as faculty members and scholars, and they all
praise his role in their professional lives.”
• Kristen Poole, Ned B. Allen Professor of English: “Jim
was on the hiring committee when I was hired at UD, and from our very
first interactions he was incredibly kind and generous. He went out of
his way to see that candidates were well taken care of, down to the
smallest detail. When Martin and I moved to Newark, we lived around the
corner from Jim, so he was also a neighbor, and he graciously helped us
to get settled into our new home. Before we knew anyone else in town, he
was watering our plants and feeding our cats, as well as helping me
plan syllabi. He was a genuine caregiver, and I know that he took care
of his graduate students in the same way. He loved community, and along
with Lois Potter opened his living room to play readings that were a
delight. Jim was obviously a formidable scholar, but the thing that
stands out to me the most in thinking about him was his sense of humor.
He was warm, compassionate and a wonderful mentor. He is missed.”
• Julian Yates, H. Fletcher Brown Professor of English: “Prof.
James (Jim) Dean and Ned B. Allen Professor Emerita Lois Potter led the
search that hired Kristen Poole and me in 1995-6. Jim’s office was
opposite mine, and we fell into a routine of daily conversation. He
essentially oriented me to campus, and we embarked on a 20-year long
conversation about academic life and, in particular, teaching medieval
literature (we both frequently taught ENGL 205 “British Writers 1,”
which covers roughly the years 600-1700 CE). Jim also taught medieval
surveys and a course on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. We would regale
one another with the highs and lows of classroom life; experiments we
tried; and talk through what was working and what was not. One of the
highlights, was Jim’s inspired idea, in place of quizzes, to divide
students into teams and have them come up with Jeopardy-style
questions based on the readings. Jim would then emcee the “game show”
finale in best Alex Trebeck style, which his students adored. Jim was
also a committed and nurturing dissertation director and supervised a
steady stream of graduate students specializing in Medieval Literature.
“Jim was one of the most self-effacing people I have had the pleasure
of meeting. He was also something of a perfectionist when it came to
his own writing, which meant that writing took time, especially since he
worked in multiple languages. In conversation, he would refer to his
now classic treatment of the idea of The World Grown Old in Later Medieval Literature (Medieval
Academy Press, 2014) with wry self-deprecation as ‘the book grown old’ —
partly for the fun of the joke but also, in part, to see how his
interlocuter would react. Once you got to know Jim, you realized that
there was a winking humor and critical reserve to his modesty. When, on
occasion, we attended lectures together at the Modern Language
Association or the International Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, Jim was
met by a chorus of smiling hellos and handshakes from the leaders of
the field. Everyone in Middle English Studies knew him and his work,
especially on John Gower, his lifelong interest, beside Geoffrey
Chaucer. Jim was also one of the founder members of the decade-long
work-in-progress group Medieval/Renaissance Workshop (1997-2007) and was
responsible for bringing key figures in medieval studies to campus,
such as Caroline Dinshaw (NYU), a pioneer in Queer Theory and Medieval
Studies.
“Upon Lois Potter’s retirement, Jim took up the mantle of convening
her highly successful play-reading group, a tradition he continued until
his own retirement. The group provided a wonderful opportunity for
students and faculty to read all manner of early period plays aloud,
canonical works by William Shakespeare, but also the fascinating,
strange and largely unread.
“Jim was also an excellent departmental citizen, serving as associate
chair, and on every departmental committee at some point in his career.
“An avid hiker, after retirement, Jim and his beloved Jenny Dean
would travel. He and I would meet, as his schedule allowed, for coffee
in Walter’s (the much-loved café that used to be in the basement of
Hullihen Hall). He would tell me about his and Jenny’s adventures. Jim
always got the Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. I risked the coffee. We
both brought our own sandwiches. Jim liked peanut butter and jelly. I
can picture the sandwich now.”