Ruth Jackson exits the ELI stage

When she takes her final bow in December, assistant professor Ruth Jackson will end a long-running career in service to the University of Delaware and the English Language Institute that is as notable for its leadership and innovation as its dedication to students and the profession.

Ruth Jackson's Listening/Speaking classes have always generated enthusiasm and camaraderie.

Jackson, who once pursued a career on the opera stage, will retire after 30 years of service to the university, including 19 years at ELI. “Ruth brings a passion to the classroom born out of her love for the theater. Her gift and talent resides in instilling that same excitement for learning in her ESL students,” said ELI director Dr. Scott Stevens. “We will miss her irreplaceable zeal.”

Jackson’s legacy includes the creation of the Institute’s only credit-bearing course and two special cultural courses, leadership in writing ELI’s first promotion document for non-tenured faculty, authoring a textbook still in use across the nation and directing numerous student performances at graduation ceremonies, including student video productions and excerpts from musicals such as “West Side Story” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” for which students made scenery and costumes, acted, sang and danced the story lines to the great enjoyment of their audiences.

Before joining the Institute, Ruth studied opera at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and worked as a social worker for the state of Maryland, placing abused children in foster homes. Later, she spent several summers conducting research on Samuel Taylor Coleridge at the British Museum in London while she completed all coursework towards a doctorate in Old English, Middle English, history of the language and linguistics at the University of Delaware and taught literature and composition classes in the English Department.

During this same time period, Ruth appeared in leading roles in local productions, such as Shaw’s “Man and Superman,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music.”

Ruth joined ELI in 1986 at the request of Stevens, who asked her to develop an advanced academic English course for ELI students who intended to pursue studies at a U.S. university. One year later, her advanced Reading/Writing for Academic Purposes Level VI class became the only ELI class to be granted credit by the University of Delaware, as the equivalent of the freshman English E110 class.

“No teacher set higher academic standards than Ruth did,” said Stevens. “Students sometimes groaned under the weight of her demands in our advanced English for Academic Purposes courses, but they invariably came back one semester later to thank her for arming them for success in their degree programs.”

In 1992 she was the principal author of American Voices, a textbook which was used in the advanced level classes at ELI, Georgetown University and other prestigious universities in the United States. Her book was cited in a New York Times op-ed piece as recently as 2002. The late Professor Robert di Pietro was her co-author. In addition, Jackson co-authored a TESOL publication on the issue of English as the U.S. official language and several articles in renowned journals such as the English Language Gazette and the Georgetown Round Table Proceedings.

Jackson continued to innovate at ELI, developing courses in literature and film, and serving as the first editor of the Institute’s annual newsletter. She co-chaired the Promotion Committee and became one of the first two ELI faculty members to be promoted to assistant professor in 1999.

In the 90s, Jackson completed her master’s degree in teaching ESL at the School for International Training, served on the TESOL Sociopolitical Concerns Committee for an unprecedented five years and presented pre-convention institutes annually from 1993 to 1999 at the organization’s international convention. She served as president of the affiliate PennTESOL-East in 1996-1997. At ELI, she chaired the ELI Scholarship Committee and the Committee on Student Conduct and Attendance, for which she wrote the policy.

Jackson served as the Institute’s representative to the AAUP and was a member of the union’s steering committee from 1998-2002. She also served on the Faculty Senate Committee on Cultural Activities and Public Events and chaired the University of Delaware Arts and Science Faculty Senate Admissions and Standing Committee in 1999-2000. She was asked to serve as secretary to the Arts and Science Faculty Senate Committee before ELI’s transfer to the College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy (CHEP) disqualified her.

After her retirement, Jackson plans to spend her time pursuing some of her passions––writing a play (which she envisions excitedly as opening to the call of a shofar, the ancient ram’s horn), reading––in particular, The Greatest Generation and The DaVinci Code––and traveling. She would love to return to the stage as a vocalist and to the ELI stage as a teacher.

“Dr. Stevens says that he would love to have me come back and teach a course from time to time and I look forward to doing that,” said Jackson.

“I’ve enjoyed working with many, many wonderful students whose faces I will carry forever in my heart.”