Thanks for sharing your memory about Dr. Reed. I now know him more from your post, and know more about where you, my mentor, were from. Wish that he could read this from heaven. He contributed to the world even more than he himself knew. His caring, nudging, and encourouging has been passed on by you, his mentee to his mentee's mentees around the globe whom he did not know and even think of. He should be smiling from heart for what he left to the earth, if I were him...
Liu from CA

 

Yes, Shijuan, and as you can tell from this blog post and the courses you took from me, you have been influenced by him.

 

Curt, thanks for this blog remembrance of Mike Reed. Mike was pretty much while I came to WVU in 1999. I was impressed at annual EERA's when he would bring numerous WVU grad students. They were smart and prepared. At EERA more than once, Virginia Tech and WVU grad students would fill up the lounge at happy hour. His WVU position was moved to another dept and i pretty much have that position now. I have big shoes to fill. While I'm known here as an advocate for students in the 5-year teacher ed program, i have lots of work to do to match that with grad students. Mike's death is sobering, but this event reminds me how much many of us are related to Mike Reed, and to each other.

 

As a new faculty member in 1995, Mike reached out to me in much the same way that you describe, Curt. I'm grateful for his personal and professional friendship. He eased the transition of a new faculty member who knew no one in Morgantown and at WVU. I will miss him.

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your wonderful mentor, Mike Reed. Having a mentor like him was obviously an important part of your professional and personal life, and as you noted, his positive influence continues through you, Min Liu, and others. I did not know Mike, although I had met him once or twice at conferences. After reading your memorial posting, I sincerely wish I had been able to get to know him. I suspect he would be very pleased by your tribute. Thank you again for sharing it.
- Tom Reeves, UGA

 

Yes, Neal, I feel for you. Those are mighty big shoes to fill. I do remember how he prepared his students to present and then celebrated when done; and he always brought a lot of people with him. Huge groups of doctoral students and he made sure that they all got the opportunity to present at places like EERA. I try to do the same today.

Thanks Judy and Tom for your comments as well. Tom, I will see you in a few days in Madison for the annual distance teaching and learning conference and we can chat about Mike and have a toast to him there. Anyone else reading this who wants to join in and meet at for dinner and a drink or two, come to the main conference hotel lobby (the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace) at 8 East Wilson Street at 6:30 pm on Thursday August 6th. See you all there!

 

This is a great tribute to Mike, Curt. I was one of the WVU doctoral students who was mentored by Mike and, similar to your experiences, I feel that he had a huge influence on my life as well. Like Judy, I will miss him as well.

I wanted to mention that Mike did indeed publish a book in 2001 entitled Kelly Barracks under the pseudonym R. P. Michaels. I found this link on Amazon to the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Barracks-R-Michaels/dp/0595171419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249180880&sr=8-1

 

Thanks Dr. John. That book has now been ordered. I got the collector's edition! There was 1 of those left. I thought I would see what a collector's edition included. Nice to hear from you. Glad you liked the post.

 

This comment below is from Gail Fitzgerald, former fellow faculty member at West Virginia University and now at the University of Missouri:

I am sitting here in a beach home in Chincoteague, Virginia, this week having come for a working week with my research colleague Kate Mitchem from West Virginia. Reflecting on Mike’s life and impact leads me to see a bridge between his mentoring and where I am today. Mike was my only real mentor, as he was to countless others.
Mike was unique in his help and support of new faculty entering the college…offering help with statistics, arranging writing opportunities in his edited journals, reading drafts, running faculty academies, and leading us off to conferences here and abroad for presentations. I had arrived a year later than Curt to a new state, undergoing a mid-life career change, needing to learn to write and be productive, and to find new colleagues after 20- years in a different career. We soon became very close friends and colleagues. I have memories of dinners at Jambies, week-end get-togethers, working on the statewide T3 technology network/conferences that we co-organized, walking his dogs at the WVU farms, and of course, our trips to Scotland and Germany where I saw his favorite towns and Army barracks. Curt talked about Mike interviewing at Indiana with only the clothes he came with…reminds me of his typical wardrobe. He would go out to the discount store Gabes and buy 10 blue knit shirts once a year… all the same so he wouldn’t have to worry about what he would wear. It made it easy to give him a birthday present- a red shirt was a unique item for him!
Mike made a lasting and profound impact on me as no one else has. Like Curt, I hear his voice and feel his presence and wish I could have a chance to tell him how much he meant to me and how much his impact continues on, and also hear of his retirement activities. I’m glad he had some time, though not enough, to change his pace and do some different things. I don’t know whether he ever got his second book published- I know he started it. For a long time he talked about returning to his love of writing.
Curt got it right…Mike’s influence lives on and on and on and on. As long as we teach and our students teach and their students teach, Mike will be here. We will not forget. We will continue to follow his example in supporting and teaching and enabling our students. I’m going to have my doc students read this blog as we share tribute to our friend and colleague Mike Reed…and reflect.

(A special thanks to Gail for that post. That is inspiring yet somewhat sobering stuff Gail.)

 

Hard to know what to say. Mike was my first doctoral student (actually I co-chaired with Patricia Kelly). No one worked harder. No one cared more about his students. He had a notion of quality that was uncompromising but he was always willing to help people meet his criteria. Many of us are better because we knew Mike Reed. I'm glad for all the beers, cigarettes, and conversations. He will be missed. Thanx for doing this Curt.
John Burton Virginia Tech

 

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Sure thing John. I have been wanting to correspond with you for a long time. But not under these circumstances. Mike is all the things you say. You are spot on. Very hard working with high standards but willing help everyone reach those standards. Maybe that is why we gelled so well.


Your first doc student. Wow. He set the bar quite high for all the others, that is for sure. Those must be some memories. Trying to assist your first doc student and it is Mike Reed of all people. Man. That would be a blessing in a way but perhaps not. I would have loved to have been in your initial meetings designing the study and at his defense.

 

Curt,

I too was one of Dr. Reeds students at WVU. Your post connected on all the emotions that I had last evening when I heard that he had pasted. It had been over a year since I had talked to him on the phone, but I thought of him often. His impact on my life cannot be understated. I was a very young graduate student and Dr. Reed took me in and was a mentor and a friend. My first real lasting memory was when I got my first paper back from him covered with red ink, coffee stains, and cigarette burns. I was in shock. My original words were barely visible. We sat at his "private" office out back and discussed for what seemed like hours about what it would take for me to be a researcher and a writer. For the next three years he spent countless more hours on the task. Probably the smartest thing I have every done outside of my family, is to make myself 100% open to the criticism, feedback, and counseling of Mike Reed.

Gail - it was great to see your post and reflections. Thanks so much for sharing them and thank you for connecting me with Dr. Reed. In addition to the dinners around town and dog walks at the farm, I remember spending all weekend in his office shivering as I worked on re-write, after re-write, after re-write wondering if Dr. Reed would want me to write it again.

 

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Jim, thanks for posting the links to the photographs that you had of Mike. They will be cherished keepsakes.

 

Curt, thank you for writing this. I was one of the Virginia Tech doc students that graduated after Mike attended Tech. John and the rest of the Tech faculty always spoke highly of Mike and his accomplishments. He set the standard that we all felt that we needed live up to (yes, quite a high standard!). Although we didn't cross paths often, Mike was always willing to take time to talk and share his thoughts.

 

Thanks Curt, for posting this nice tribute and to all colleagues who contributed. I witnessed Mike's incredible kindness and teaching ability! I'll never forget arriving at AERA and finding Mike surrounded by doctoral student all participating due to his mentorship!
Blessings to him as we relive the good memories!

 

Curt, Thank you for the comments that you have made about Mike Reed. Your words made him live again as do the lessons you learned through your experiences with him. I worked for several years with him, and I am certain he was proud to be your friend and pleased with all of the work you have done. I know that he was very proud of all his doctoral students, and I extend my sympathy to all of you.

 

Oh Joy. I hear from Joy. Thanks for the post Joy! It is great to hear from you.

Marcus, I know what you are saying. When you have people in doctoral programs like Mike who probably are operating at professor level already, it makes future students shiver a bit.

I guess James was shivering for different reasons. Yes, Mike put much time and effort into grading. I was a first year faculty member and on endless technology committees with Gail and Mike (as well as Benedum teacher ed reform ones--I think I was on 20 service committtes in my 3 years at West Virginia. Mike was on many of them as well.). I did not have much time for grading. Mike found the time. I do not know how. he was amazing, in retrospect.

Thanks for the pics James. Mary Alice Barksdale just sent one to me as well. cjbonk at Indiana.edu if you find more.

 

I just heard of Mike's passing and I'm glad you started this blog as a tribute to him. I was also a student at WVU between 1994 and 2000 where I earned both my Master's and Doctorate with Mike as my major professor. Some would say that all of the students were getting a degree in C&I-491, but it was a very good program study with many opportunities for teaching and research.



Like other graduate students he mentored, I was involved in many different projects during Mike's tenure there. We worked together on a Bell-Atlantic grant, a T-3 technology committee, the English Language Journal, and traveled quite frequently to SITE and EERA conferences. Because of him, I had opportunities to visit Hawaii, Seattle, Washington DC, Hilton Head, and Germany, just to name a few.


He and I traveled to Germany together in the summer of 1998. We met up with Gail Fitzgerald in Frankfort and later with David Ayersman in Freiburg. It was a kind of like a WVU get-together only overseas! We bought German rail passes that were good for 10 days and traveled all over the country. He was just beginning to write memoirs for the book "Kelly Barracks" that John O. pointed out. We traveled to Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Garmisch, Munich, and Freiburg. We took a few side trips to Kelly Barracks and to the old neighborhoods that used to be his stomping grounds when he was stationed there. He spent lots of time reminiscing and telling me about the time when he was there while we rode the trains and visited different areas.
As anyone who reads this blog will probably know, he wasn't very forthcoming about being in pictures, so there are only a few that I have where he actually posed for me. Digital photography was in its infancy at the time, so playing around the new technology to see what it could do was often something that I dabbled in. Whenever I could include him in a shot, I would try my darnedest to do so! He would oftentimes catch me and counter with "Could you take that into PhotoShop and make me slimmer and less grey?"

Here are a few links to photos that I took of Mike when he was least expecting it. http://idisk.me.com/takacs-Public/reed/reed-1.jpg
http://idisk.me.com/takacs-Public/reed/reed-2.jpg
http://idisk.me.com/takacs-Public/reed/reed-3.jpg



Gail's right, "Mike’s influence lives on and on and on and on" in each and every one of us. I'm so glad that I got to spend the time with him that I did...

 

Thanks Mary. Nice to hear from you! It is a shame Mike perhaps did not realize just how many people he touched.

Jim--as you can see, I posted those pics. You are great. Thanks so much.

 

It is hard for me to add to this thread as it is hard to really believe that Mike is gone. I guess I took for granted that he would always be there.

As Mike's first doctoral student I can barely recount all the things that he taught me. Some simple and some profound. I do know that I would not have succeeded in my professional life if not for him. He shaped my career in so many ways. From his teaching, his consistent mentorship, his encouragement, and most of all his unquestioning friendship and dedication.

I knew that my success what the most important thing to Mike, a feeling I am sure is shared by all of his other students.

Presentations. Publications. Research awards. Grants. Promotion. Tenure. All because of Mike.

I hope that I have been able to pass on at least part of that dedication to my students and colleagues. If I have, then it is true testament to the lasting legacy of a great professor, scholar, and friend.

 

The Morgantown service for Mike is Friday at 1:00.


Beverly Hills Memorial Gardens
1290 FAIRMONT RD
Morgantown, WV 26501

 

Curt - Thank you for doing this for Mike and all of us who knew him. He was a great colleague at NYU and we miss him. Fran Stage

 

Thanks Fran. Long time, no see. Hope you are well. Good to hear from you.

David, the same. Nice words you say here. Thanks. Many people I am sure resonate with what you have said.

 

This is a special thing to see, so thanks to everyone for the contributions, especially to Curt for organizing. I know we'll all miss Mike in so many ways. Along with John Burton, Mike was the model that we all followed for being a professor while we were all pitiful grad students at Va. Tech. Burton was "grandpa" to us all, and we had our "Uncle Mike" up the road in Morgantown. EERA conferences introduced us all to being academic researchers, and how to have fun in Boston and Savannah, thanks to Mike and John.

 

I have worked with Mike for the last year and a half at Radford University. We shared the same office suite. Our suite is filled with dog lovers so Mike fit in well. I volunteer for Friends of Animal Care & Control. This past spring we received a dog and her 6, two day old puppies. Mike graciously volunteered to foster mom and pups until they pups were old enough to be adopted (about 7 weeks). He decided to adopt mom and named her Maggie. Mike's health began to deteriorate and he eventually decided that 3 dogs were more than he could handle so we sent Maggie to a rescue in Richmond VA. Almost exactly a week later Mike passed. It's not often that you find people willing to open their heart and their home to one dog, much less an entire litter. We are grateful that Mike was that one special person.

Mike has left behind his own two dogs, Pete and Abby. I'm assisting his sister in trying to find a loving home for both dogs. Mike adored these dogs so we'd like to keep them together if possible. Mike walked them frequently at the local park and would bring them by the office for visits. He drove a minivan so that he could take them places. He was a very kind man to everyone, furry or not. If you think you may be interested in helping Pete and Abby, please let me know.

We all miss Mike and send our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family.

 

This post is from Ann Crabtree, Program Assistant I, Technology, Learning & Culture at WVU.


Curt thank you so much for taking the time and remembering Dr. Reed (Mike) with your blog. Dr. Reed was always friendly, kind and courteous. I registered for one of his classes with Dr. David Ayersman assisting and it was very interesting. When Mike left WVU it was their great loss. I thought of Dr. Reed many times after he left WVU. He was always helping students and staff when we had a problem with our computers. He never seemed to get frustrated with any questions that were asked of him, and he always had an answer. Thanks for the pictures of Mike that Jim shared with us.
Ann Crabtree

Thanks Ann!


(Sidenote: Ann was the only secretary I have had who would have whatever task I placed in her in-basket done before I got back to my office. She is amazing and she has some wonderful things to say about Mike just like everyone else.)

 

I have spent these days reflecting on the times I spent with Dr. Reed. Those times have become even more precious to me. I was fortunate to study under him, work for him, and conduct research with him.

He taught me how to teach, how to conduct rigorous research, and prepared me for my academic career. He had high expectations for his students, and we had to work hard to live up to them. He was constantly pushing us to do our best. Most importantly, he provided every opportunity for us to succeed and realize our potentials.

I met Dr. Reed for the last time at NYU in April 2007 with my husband and son. I was invited to make a presentation at NYU and we were also on our way to Boston. My son, Michael, was born while I was at WVU and is named after Dr. Reed, my mentor and dearest friend. Michael’s acceptance to Harvard made Dr. Reed really proud.

Here is a photo taken at an Italian restaurant he liked: https://webspace.utexas.edu/lium/DrReed/

Dr. Reed meant to so much to me and my family. As Gail said, his influence will live on through us, his students, our students, and our students’ students; and for me also through my son Michael. I’ll miss him terribly.

 

Note: The above post comes from Liu Min at the University of Texas at Austin!

Thanks Liu Min. You are great. Great picture. Nice to have it and add to my collection!

 

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I wish people would not post spam.

 

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