IN MEMORIAM<

Elliot Judd

Linguist Guided the UIC TESOL Master’s Program and his Hundreds of Students for 30 Years

Elliot Judd, associate professor of linguistics, passed away on December 9, 2008, after a three-year battle with cancer. He joined the Linguistics Department at UIC in 1979, after receiving his BA, MA and PhD (1977) from New York University, and teaching at SUNY Cortland and Ohio University, to develop the master’s program in TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages). At that time, both the field and the UIC program were relatively young. For almost 30 years, Elliot remained its popular director, building a name for the program that grew with his own considerable influence in the field. Today, the program has an international reputation and sends teachers of English as a second language across the nation and around the world. Perhaps Elliot’s greatest legacy is his insistence on the professional status of TESOL as a field, with knowledge, standards, authority, and influence. When he began his career, TESOL had little professional status and there were few opportunities for career development. Children with limited or no English proficiency were often thrown into classes with other children to sink or swim. Non-native speaking adults might find a night class taught by a well-meaning, but usually untrained, individual at a community center. Gradually, through the efforts of dedicated professionals like Elliot, the field began to develop a knowledge base and high quality preparation programs, such as the one he built here at UIC. His tireless and passionate promotion of the field, and the teachers and the learners in it, was a life-long commitment for him.

He was an influential member of the international professional organization, TESOL, acting as its president from 2005-2006, as a member of the Executive Board, as Chair of the Annual Convention, and as Director of the Summer Institute. He was also the founding editor of the TESOL Journal, a publication dedicated to the interests of classroom teachers. In various capacities, he also served the Chicago Board of Education, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the City Colleges of Chicago, the Educational Testing Service, and the Institute of International Education, among other agencies and organizations. He co-edited several books, and wrote numerous articles and book chapters. Much in demand as a speaker, he gave plenary presentations, papers, and workshops on every continent. His academic work focused on the socio-political factors that have shaped American language policy, both past and present, especially in the teaching of English to immigrants. He frequently wrote and spoke out against English-only policies that abrogate the rights of non-English speakers and was a champion of the linguistics rights for speakers of all languages.

For all his dedication to the institution of TESOL, Elliot was, at heart, a teacher, utterly devoted to his students. At UIC alone, he mentored close to a thousand students. He instilled in these new teachers a respect for that knowledge, authority, and influence, which has come to characterize the profession. And they, in turn, have all passed on what they learned from him to thousands of their students. He had a prodigious memory when it came to his students. He could go through the alumni files, summoning up a story about any one of them with little apparent effort. In the end, it was to his students that he dedicated the final months and weeks of this life. He pushed himself to finish the fall semester and see the latest cohort of students through to the end of his course. He taught his last class, which both exhilarated and exhausted him, four days before his death. It was the way he wanted it. Elliot will be missed by his family: his wife, Kathy, his children, Isaac, Alex, and Yael, his daughter-in-law, Alison, his new grandson, Avery; by his colleagues at UIC, TESOL, and around the world; and by countless current and former students.

Jessica Williams is the senior associate dean of the UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is also an applied linguist and director the MA TESOL Program. Her research interests include second language writing and lexical development, and the effect of instruction in second language acquisition. Elliot Judd was her friend and colleague for over two decades.