Last Friday in the Massey Board Room, faculty, staff, and students gathered to celebrate Dr. John Paine’s 37 years of teaching and service at Belmont and to wish him well in his retirement. Dr. Marcia McDonald was the master of ceremonies, and interspersed readings from several of Dr. Paine’s favorite writers among the many faculty and student reminiscences.
The following resolution, approved unanimously by the English Department, provides a good though still somehow insufficient summary of his enormous contributions to student and faculty life at Belmont:
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served the Department of English at Belmont University for 38 years as Professor of Literature and Professor of Language and as Chair of the Department,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served as professor of undergraduate and graduate studies, teaching exemplary classes in modern, comparative, classical, European, and Japanese literatures, literary theory, and French language and literatures, and teaching courses in the newest frontiers of literature,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served the School of Humanities, the CAS, and CLASS with patience and commitment to high standards on numerous committees and planning groups, including curriculum committees and tenure and promotion committees,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to France and sabbaticals for scholarly projects,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served Belmont University as its first director of Study Abroad, inaugurating a range of programs for students in all majors at the university, and first venturing into new territories himself to establish study abroad programs and actively participating in NAFSA,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served as the campus liaison to the Fulbright commission, consulting, guiding and supporting numerous faculty and students in their applications for Fulbright grants
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has served the scholarly community by publications and presentations in comparative literature, by his editorship of the Journal of the Short Story in English and the Japanese Studies Association Journal, and his membership in scholarly organizations including MLA and JSA,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students, among our best and brightest, over the years, guiding their inquiry and questions, sustaining their drive to write an excellent paper or thesis, and supporting their aspirations for further scholarly study, and continuing connections with them after their graduation,
Whereas, Dr. John H. E. Paine is an exemplary campus citizen and community member in his home town of Franklin, TN,
THEREFORE, the Department of English affirms the nomination of Dr. John H. E. Paine to the status of Professor Emeritus, congratulates him on his stellar career, thanks him for his leadership in the department for into four decades, and most of all, thanks him for his generous spirit, his intellectual energy, and his wisdom that he has shared with us individually and collectively.
Belmont English 