The Department of English mourns the passing of two of our beloved colleagues: Dan Barnes and Jon Erickson.

Dan Barnes (1940–2016), emeritus professor of both English and Folklore, taught in the department from 1967–1995. He also taught a very popular class on jokes—and was himself a very funny man. In 2014, the Center for Folklore Studies created the Daniel R. Barnes Prize, which is given annually to the year's best folklore paper by an OSU undergraduate. Dan was also a terrific pianist. Dan died on April 3rd.

Jon Erickson was hired as an Assistant Professor of English in 1990 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996. Jon was author of The Fate of the Object: From Modern Object to Postmodern Sign in Performance, Art, and Poetry (Univ. of Michigan Press, 1995) as well as numerous published articles in journals and edited volumes on theatre, performance theory, spectatorship, politics and ethics, drama and art. He taught courses and conducted research concentrating on philosophy and literature, aesthetics and ethics, the phenomenology and reception of performance, the performance of subjectivity, modern/postmodern drama and fiction, tragedy and the tragic, Samual Beckett, theatre and cinema, critical theory and political philosophy, visual and conceptual art. Jon passed away on April 5th.

Both Dan and Jon were loved by their students and coworkers. They will be deeply missed.

Memorial services are currently being planned. This page will be updated with more information once it becomes available.