{"id":5681,"date":"2023-10-04T22:20:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T22:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=5681"},"modified":"2024-08-07T17:09:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T17:09:07","slug":"professor-marlon-celebrated-with-emeritus-status","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-october-2023\/professor-marlon-celebrated-with-emeritus-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Marlon Celebrated with Emeritus Status"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Zo\u00eb R. Scheuerman ’24<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, September 18th, the Macalester community gathered in the atrium of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts building to celebrate Professor Marlon James\u2019 new recognition as a professor emeritus. The event balanced the sophistication and structure of an official ceremony with the casual warmth of old friends reuniting. Attendees snacked on caprese or steak bite skewers while faculty and administrators recounted anecdotes about Professor James\u2019 fifteen years at Macalester, including him immediately winning over Dr. Daylanne English\u2019s dog, writing a blurb for student-turned-faculty Professor Emma T\u00f6rzs\u2019 new fantasy novel, and hosting dinner parties for students, fellow faculty, and special guests like, upon one occasion, author Louise Erdrich.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"James
Professor James and Professor Bognanni engaging in shenanigans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After allowing guests to get settled, mingle, and grab a glass of sparkling cider, the program began with opening remarks from President Rivera, Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Lisa Anderson-Levy, and English Department Chair Professor Peter Bognanni. President Rivera emphasized that the celebration \u201cis not a goodbye,\u201d a sentiment that Dr. Anderson-Levy reinforced – while also revealing that she and Professor James went to the same high school and grew up in adjacent Kingston suburbs. Professor Bognanni described Professor James not only as a literary force to be reckoned with, but also a professor who was as warm as he was rigorous, punctuating conversations on Old Main 2 with \u201cbooming laughter\u201d coming from his office while pressing students in his workshops to adhere to his list of \u201cbanned words\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"English
English Department student workers preparing to run support for the event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his remarks, Professor James described coming to Macalester as a welcome surprise opportunity that came to him at a point in his job search where, in his words, \u201cI was just out of options.\u201d The offer, to which Professor James recalls responding with \u201cDon\u2019t ask questions where you know the answer,\u201d was originally a one-year teaching gig. It then transformed into a fifteen-year tenured position that Professor James says \u201cspoiled me rotten\u2026 I can\u2019t teach anywhere else.\u201d Professor James elaborated by praising his fellow English Department faculty for being \u201con top of their scholarship,\u201d joking that he felt like a one-book faculty member when he compared his publishing schedule to that of his colleagues. He also praised his students, describing Macalester undergrads as full of an \u201ceternal sense of possibility\u201d which made teaching them more enjoyable than MFAs, who pose the problem that \u201chalf of them already know what they want, and the other half want my agent\u2019s number.\u201d Professor James also offered a nugget of writing advice, making the point that \u201cone thing you should never do as a writer is grow up.\u201d His final point responded to and reinforced President Rivera and Dr. Anderson-Levy\u2019s sentiments, emphasizing that \u201cmy connection to Macalester will never be severed.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"English
The English Department fauclty gathering for a group photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Professor Emeritus, Professor James has the option to periodically continue teaching classes at Macalester. <\/span>The Words<\/span><\/i> staff wishes Professor James the best in his future endeavors and hopes to connect <\/span>with him again in the future! Thank you to all the staff, faculty, student workers, and administrators who helped organize and attended this event!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Zo\u00eb R. Scheuerman ’24 On Monday, September 18th, the Macalester community gathered in the atrium of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts building to celebrate Professor Marlon James\u2019 new recognition as a professor emeritus. The event balanced the sophistication and structure of an official ceremony with the casual warmth of old friends reuniting. Attendees snacked […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":5677,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5681","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5681"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7757,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5681\/revisions\/7757"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}