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additional
biographical links:
Biography
Teaching in Gabron
Vitae
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May 21, 2004
Resolution to Honor Dr. Dan Guillory on His Retirement from
Millikin University
It is my pleasure to honor Dr. Dan Guillory today as he retires
after 32 years of devoted service to the students of Millikin
University. I have benefited from and enjoyed being a colleague
of Dan Guillory for several years, and today I am humbled by this
opportunity to celebrate his lifelong devotion to literacy and
the humanities at Millikin and beyond—for Dr. Guilory’s
reach has been personal (to the student sitting in his office),
and local (to members of Illinois communities gathered for readings
in libraries), as well as global (through his many publications
and opportunities such as a Fulbright year in Gabon, Africa).
Dr. Guillory’s quest has been to celebrate the Humanities
in all aspects of his life—personally, professionally, and
as a citizen of Illinois. His quest is a life-long commitment
to the Humanities and undergraduate liberal education in its finest
sense—breadth of reading, appreciation of classical and modern
languages, the essential importance of literature and the arts
in our overwhelmingly materialist culture, and the importance
of traditions and culture in an age of fast food, expediency,
and instant gratification.
Personally, he loves to read, to analyze films, to study local
history and, of course, to write. He has shared his personal journeys
in the Humanities through reviews, poetry, and essays. One of
his published collections of poetry, The Alligator Inventions,
begins by exploring his Cajun heritage, but ends up pushing us
to value the life of the mind—the inventions we create out
of language, out of thinking, out of living.
Dr. Guillory has not just preached that a life of meaning is
necessarily a life-long quest of reading, writing and self-reflection—he
has lived it. He shares his intellectual journey in essays such
as “North and South: Thirty Years in Illinois, Or How I Learned
to Become a Midwesterner” in which he wrote:
“I have mastered the small rituals which organize the
pleasures of life on the prairie, like raising the index finger
from the steering wheel to salute and greet oncoming motorists
without unseemly waving or shouting. Dressing for my part, I
now own work boots, field coats, and a dozen or so baseball
caps, some bearing the logos of hybrid seed companies. I have
even learned to listen, not an easy skill for a Cajun to acquire.”
And near the end of the essay he concludes:
“Home can become a tricky concept, as I recently discovered
when somehow my old home of New Orleans began to feel distinctly
more foreign than my adopted home of Illinois. Further reflection
on this paradox made me also cope with the fact that I have
actually lived longer in Illinois than anywhere else on the
planet. Thirty years can dramatically alter cities—and
lives. Now I pass for Midwestern, even though the Midwest itself
is changing under my feet. And the home I made here is not merely
physical but phenomenological, a place of the mind.”
Out of this phenomenological place, Guillory has
written more than 450 articles, poems, reviews and book chapters
for numerous publications, including the Michigan Quarterly
Review, Rolling Stone, Library Journal, Illinois Times, Illinois
Issues, Kansas Quarterly, Mississippi Valley Review, Spoon River
Quarterly, and the Dow-Jones Online Book Reviews. He
served as a reviewer for Library Journal from 1975-2003.
He has written chapters in The Automobile and American Culture,
Marianne Moore, Woman and Poet, and Benchmark: An Anthology
of Contemporary Illinois Poetry. His published books include
Living with Lincoln: Life and Art in the Heartland
(1989); The Alligator Inventions (1991); and When the
Waters Recede: Rescue and Recovery During the Great Flood
(1996). Guillory has also written chapters or introductions for
The Lemon Jelly Cake, Tramping Across America: Travel Writings
of Vachel Lindsay, and In the Middle of the Middle West.
He is currently at work on his fourth book, Images of America:
Decatur.
Professionally, Dr. Guillory has continually been a life-long
learner—seeking to extend his understanding and knowledge
of literature, cultures and art from around the world. His professional
journey began at Tulane University where he received his bachelor’s
degree in 1965 and his doctorate in 1972. He continued to explore
the Humanities through post-doctoral studies at Amherst College,
City University of New York, University of Chicago, Sheffield
University (England) and University of Minnesota.
His Humanities quest has led to numerous awards and accomplishments.
Dan was the youngest full professor named in the school’s
history. He has received many grants and awards, including the
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship; several grants from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (including a fellowship at the National Humanities
Institute, University of Chicago); Illinois Arts Council Artists’
Fellowship (1989-1989); Fulbright Senior Lecturer Award (Gabon,
Africa) (1989-1990); Illinois Arts Council Reading Series (1991);
Illinois Library Association Award (1993); and the Poets in Person
Grant, from the American Library Association (1995).
As a teacher, Dr. Guillory has invited his students to join him
in his quest and has again received significant awards and recognition.
The range of courses he has developed and taught is astounding,
ranging from Middle English to contemporary foreign film. His
students have loved the British literature survey courses he taught
as well as seminars on the Beat poets. He taught haiku and Japanese
poetics at Millikin long before I arrived, having published his
first haiku in 1972. He was a master of the story-telling approach
to teaching, drawing his students into the lives of writers and
the reception of their books in various communities. He also knew
how to adjust and adapt his teaching to each student, willing
to devote long hours for individualized conferencing in his office.
Through this individualized, personal attention to his students,
he invited them to join in his lifelong quest for the good life
of the mind.
At Millikin, Guillory was named the Hardy Distinguished Professor
of English twice (1984-1986 and 1994-96), Distinguished Faculty
Lecturer (1989), and recipient of the Alpha Lambda Delta Teaching
Award and Outstanding JMS Educator Award. He served in four administrative
assignments at the university: twice as chair of the James Millikin
Scholars program, once as retention officer, and once as chair
of the English department (2000-2003). He also served on the original
committee that created the James Millikin Scholars program, taught
at all Summer-View continuing education programs for alumni and
taught all students who traveled to Millikin in recent years through
an exchange program with Tunghai University in Taiwan. He especially
enjoyed educating our visitors about Lincoln and central Illinois
culture, taking students on literary, architectural and historical
tours.
To the broader Illinois community and society, Dr. Guillory’s
quest took the form of active leadership and artistic participation.
Guillory has served as a consultant to the Illinois State Board
of Education and was invited to be a presenter at the first three
Illinois Authors Book Fairs at the Illinois State Library at Springfield,
plus all three Decatur Area Writers Fairs. He served two terms
on the Literary Arts Panel of the Illinois Arts Council and four
terms on the on the Central Illinois Regional Planning Commission
of the Illinois Humanities Council, including two terms as president
of the Illinois Humanities Council. He currently is a board member
for the Vachel Lindsay Association in Springfield.
It has been a joy to be Dr. Guillory’s colleague. However,
I warn you. There is no such thing as a short conversation with
Dan. You’d better be ready to take up a chair and sit down
for awhile and let him connect with you and tell you about the
latest project he is working on . . . undoubtedly, it will be
about the life of the mind, out here in the Midwest, on the prairie
of the past, of this morning, or in a beautiful poem he just read.
He loves to talk about books you’re reading and will never
fail to suggest an interesting book you ought to read—a habit
the entire English department likes to share by producing the
summer reading list each year. Thank you Dr. Guillory, for your
devoted quest and for your personal care and attention to students
and for your stories and for your example of the riches that may
come with the good life of reading, learning and writing.
WHEREAS Dr. Dan Guillory has retired as Professor of English
in May 2004, and
WHEREAS Dr. Guillory has left a rich legacy of celebrating literature,
books, authors and the central role of literacy in undergraduate
liberal education at Millikin University, and
WHEREAS Dr. Guillory has been an advocate and effective leader
of community outreach, taking his students into the central Illinois
community and by developing opportunities for the Humanities events
in public life, and
WHEREAS Dr. Guillory has inspired so many students into life-long
liberal learning and helped many struggling students refocus their
priorities in order to succeed at Millikin and beyond, and
WHEREAS Dr. Guillory has challenged and provoked and moved so
many readers through his personal essays, book reviews, literary
criticism, and poetry,
BE IT RESOLVED that the faculty applaud and recognize Dr. Dan
Guillory’s 32 years of devoted service to Millikin University,
to the Humanities Division, and to the many students whose lives
were transformed by his outstanding contributions.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we wish Dr. Guillory continued discoveries
and success on his mission of celebrating a lifelong love of reading,
writing and enriching our communities with the Humanities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be entered into the
minutes of the Millikin University faculty meeting on the 21st
of May 2004.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Randy M. Brooks
on behalf of the English Department and the Humanities Division
faculty.
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