Retiring Professors: Dr. Jimmie Killingsworth

Dr. Killingsworth came to Texas A&M in 1990, served as the English Department Head for four years, and has contributed to both the literature and rhetoric sides of the English Department during his time here. While he has engaged in academic writing and research during his time here at Texas A&M, Killingsworth says he was happiest to write things he could use in his classes. He has authored two textbooks which are frequently used in rhetoric classes: Performing Prose and Appeals in Modern Rhetoric. He also wrote four books on Whitman which have benefited the literary community immensely.

Dr. Killingsworth has also been one of the main forces behind founding the subfield of Environmental Rhetoric. In 1992, he co-authored Ecospeak: Rhetoric and Environmental Politics in America with his wife, Jacqueline S. Palmer. He also helped begin a course called Environmental Literature (ENGL 302), joined by fellow scholars in the English Department such as Susan Egenolf, Larry Oliver, and Emily Johanson. Environmental Literature, Killingsworth remarks, is important because it centers around the way we talk about ourselves relating to our surroundings, and indeed, ends up asking (and potentially answering) the question, "What does it mean to be human?"

After retiring, Killingsworth will move to northern New Mexico to write, play music, and continue editing a University Press series on nature and the environment.

“Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs !” 
-Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

Please comment below with your own memories of Dr. Killingsworth!

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