In Memoriam: Jeff Rackham (1942-2009)

It is with sadness that we announce the death of our colleague, Jeff Rackham, who died June 24 2009 in Asheville, NC. He is survived by his wife, DeDe Rackham and children Quill, Adam, Isabella, and Steele.

Jeff taught at UNC Asheville from 1980 until his retirement in 2006. He taught a variety of classes in literature, composition and creative writing as well as in the MLA and Humanities programs. Along with his many administrative duties, he served as department chair, faculty senate chair, and acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

His publications included the widely used writing textbook, From Sight to Insight (Wadsworth Publishing 7^th Edition, 2002), the novel Rag and Bone Shop (Penguin 2002), and Windows: Exploring Personal Values through Reading and Writing (co-editor, Longman 1994).

The department will be hosting an on-campus memorial gathering for Jeff at 4:00PM on September 25, 2009 in the Laurel Forum on the UNC Asheville campus, and we invite you to attend. At that time we’ll announce details of an award to be established in his memory. Memorial donations can be made to an educational fund designated for the Rackham children at the NC Credit Union, or to the UNC Asheville Foundation with a designation to Literature and Language in memory of Jeff Rackham.

New Computer Classroom and Lab Opening Fall 2009

The Literature and Language department will reopen with a new computer classroom and lab this fall. KH 232 will boast 24 Dell "Netbooks" and wireless Internet connectivity, and will be largely used for writing workshop classes. We have also reclaimed classrooms vacated by Multi-Media Studies (now in the new Zeis Hall). KH 245 will function as a writing lab, and is equipped with 15 Macintosh computers. KH 244 will serve as a regular classroom. Check these new spaces out when you get a chance!

The classroom and lab were largely funded by a classroom-enhancement grant from the UNC General Administration from Spring 2009.