91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Wooster mourns passing of emeritus professor of English, Paul Christianson

Paul Christianson, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, passed away on February 15, 2022, in San Francisco, California. Christianson served as the Mildred Foss Thompson Professor of English literature at 91³Ô¹ÏÍø from 1963 to 1997.

His areas of research were medieval English literature and linguistics. He taught a variety of courses, including: Introduction to Liberal Studies, Literature of the Old & Middle English Period, Chaucer, Linguistics- Historical Descriptive, Linguistics – History of the English Language, Linguistics – Modern English Grammar, Major British Writers, and Education – Methods of Teaching English.

While at Wooster, he enjoyed several sabbaticals in London. He is the author of three books, including The Riverside Gardens of Thomas More’s London, published in 2005 by Yale University Press and illustrated by his friend and Wooster colleague, George Olson, Professor of Art Emeritus.

Paul received his Bachelor’s of Arts from St. Olaf 91³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1955, a master’s from the University of Iowa in 1956, and a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1964. He taught at Valparaiso University in Indiana (where he met and subsequently married Lou Cramblett Christianson, who passed away in 1993) and at his alma mater, St. Olaf, before joining the English faculty of 91³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1963. He retired from Wooster in 1997.

Paul is survived by his sister, Eileen Christianson Bianchi, a niece and a nephew, as well as by a host of friends.

He was an inspired and inspiring teacher. He also had a gift for friendship, and even after relocating to California from Wooster, he kept in touch with friends throughout the country and around the world.

Posted in Faculty, News on February 18, 2022.