Thomas A. Porter

In ten years of tertiary education, I have had few teachers who were truly teachers -- educators in the finest and most generous sense.  Roy was one such, and I consider myself lucky indeed to have spent time with him, to have learned from him, to have encountered such a quick and inquisitive mind and giving personality.  I met Roy while in the MFA program at UAF, and he encouraged me, someone with dreams of creative writing and no background in criticism, to turn a small paper produced in one of my classes into an MA thesis.  He helped me turn that short paper into a successful thesis, and he also gave me the courage to expand the same project into the foundation for my PhD work.  Roy gave me ideas, encouragement, even books and journals, and most importantly, his time.  Roy was always willing to spend a minute or an hour with me, pointing out a new direction or avenue of thought, or encouraging me to continue through, to produce.  Roy helped me learn not only about criticism and the writing of a thesis, but more importantly what it means to be a truly fine teacher and educator.

Roy was what everyone hopes to find standing in front of a classroom on Day One of the semester -- a warm, giving, incredibly bright and always kind mentor, excited by the ideas he sparked in his students and willing to engage with them as equals, to encourage them, and to support them.

I was truly sorry to hear of his passing.