BY MICHAEL FERGUSON

With great sadness we note the death on January 11 of Aaron Barlow, who served as a contributing editor to this blog and was the faculty editor of Academe magazine from 2013 to 2018. A professor of English at New York City College of Technology, Aaron brought wide-ranging interests in new media, educational technology, public intellectualism, and faculty activism to his work with Academe. He also did much to make Academe Blog what it is today, recruiting new contributors and overseeing a period of rapid growth in the blog’s readership. Most recently, Aaron’s thoughtfulness about pedagogy and compassion for students were in evidence in the series of pieces he wrote for Academe Blog last spring about the sudden shift to remote teaching during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aaron’s friends and City Tech colleagues provided the following remembrances of him.

“We first learn how to perform acts of kindness when we are young. As such, we come to understand that we are not islands, but, instead, are deeply connected to one another—are meant to be here for each other. In this way, we not only truly live but we also live on. Aaron embodied this way of living—giving, sharing, and nurturing all those he came into contact with. And, because he lived this way, every aspect of him is eternal and enduring. The very spirit of Aaron is massive. It looms large. Forever. We will always speak his name.”—Monique Ferrell

“At the end of another semester at City Tech, I ponder the enormous influence Aaron has had on my own writing instruction and life generally.  Aaron always believed in treating his students with the utmost respect, taking the world of ideas seriously, and living courageously. At every opportunity, I seek to emulate his wise teachings.”—Mark Noonan

“Right now I am reading Aaron’s book Presence: Hope and 21^st-Century American Academia. A copy from him was displayed on my desk at work, and I made sure to retrieve it during the one stealth visit to the office in these past months. It strikes me that the title sums up who he is at City Tech, and it seems, outside of the college, too, with good friends, with an international academic community, and of course with [his wife] Jan. He is always present, always offering hope and company to those who need it. As a full professor he has long had the ability to make other choices, but what he chose is to be present.”—Caroline Chamberlin Hellman

“The brilliance of Aaron’s life cannot be dimmed by the tragic circumstances of his death.”—Margaret Taeler

Those who wish to make donations in memory of Aaron Barlow are encouraged to contribute to the Southern Poverty Law Center or the Catskill Animal Sanctuary.

Michael Ferguson is the managing editor of Academe magazine.