tl20080828-08 "The Towerlight August 28, 2008 8 news Nick DiMarco Senior Editor On July 3, John Gissendanner, an English professor at Towson of about 30 years passed away after a three-year bout with kidney cancer. His wife, Cindy Himes Gissendanner, wrote an obituary to remember her husband of 16 years. �John�s love of life was most in evidence when among family and friends. He was one of nine chil-dren,� she writes. John grew up the middle child of his eight siblings in Saginaw, Mich. According to Cindy, John was the sole member of the family to attend college. �His brothers all liked sports and stuff like that and he was never interested,� Cindy said. �He just liked reading and ideas and he basi-cally wanted to get away and see the world more. He loved traveling and exposing himself to new experi-ences.� John�s travels took him to every state in the United States, to London on a teacher exchange and to a Navajo Indian Reservation via Volunteers in Service of America where he fostered his love for teach-ing. �He loved teaching that was really his passion. He was very unhappy when he had to retire,� Cindy said. �He was also so interested in his students and mentoring students.� As a professor, John�s teaching style deviated from basic writing to a more vocal classroom. �I know that he was very inter-ested in encouraging discussion and argumentation,� Cindy said. �He lectured too, but there was always some part of each class that was devoted to discussion. He just liked talking to students about lit-erature and what they saw in it.� At Towson, John taught a number of classes including writing for a lib-eral education, American literature survey, survey of African American literature, major writers in African American literature and Southern literature. In her obituary for John, Cindy writes, �[He] was instrumental in the development of many of Towson University�s diversity efforts. At various points of his tenure, he served as Director of the African American Studies program; the Multicultural Studies Committee; and the Planning Committee for the African American Scholarship and Creativity Conference...Of this last project, he was especially proud.� Over the course of his tenure, John accumulated several writing awards including first prize in the Middle-Atlantic Writers Association Short Story category in 1985, first prize in the short story competi-tion for ArtScape in Baltimore in 1989; and third place in short story competition for �Lite,� Baltimore�s literary newspaper in 1997. �He shared his expertise in and enthusiasm for creative writing with both undergraduate and graduate students in his writing classes at Towson University; with inmates in the Writing Program at the Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup; and with students in Baltimore County Public Schools,� Cindy writes. John�s impressive career took a new turn when he met Cindy at Towson. Six years later, they were married and together, they raised Alyssa Gissendanner, 12, their daughter. John is also survived by his other daughter Cheryl Ponder of Denver, Colorado. Cindy said John will be remem-bered for his sense of humor, noting many of the sympathy cards she received made mention of it. He was also an avid movie buff. His favorite film being, �The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.� Some of his favorite writers included William Faulkner, Charles Chesnutt and Zora Neale Hurston. A memorial service for John will be held Sunday October 5th, at 2:00 in the Potomac Lounge. Parking will be free. Also, The John Gissendanner Fund for African American Study has been established at the University to support the sponsorship of appear-ances by poets, scholars, writers, musicians and political figures. Contributions can be sent to Towson University Foundation, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252. Checks should be made payable to the Towson University Foundation. Photo courtesy of Cindy Gissendanner Towson professor John Gissendanner, Aug. 13, 1939 - July 3, 2008. Long time professor Dan Gross remembered, loved Staff Writer While Barack Obama and John McCain are vying for the presidency, freshman and transfer students with the political itch can apply for a seat on the Student Government Association senate. Four spaces are now available for freshmen and one for a transfer student as senators. Applications will be accepted through Friday, Sept. 12. The SGA allows a select number of freshmen and transfer students in the senate to get an alternative viewpoint that cannot be seen by members that have already been at Towson, according to SGA vice president James Torrence. �[They] will see the things that people don�t already see, [things] that are out of the norm on cam-pus,� Torrence said. �They will be able to know how to affect your stu-dent experience in a positive way.� Torrence is in charge of the appli-cations the SGA receives as well as training the new senators. He will review the resumes that are required with the digital applications. As of Tuesday, Aug. 19 there were at least 30 responses from freshmen and 10 from transfers, comparable to last year�s statistics. �This position was started because the SGA really wanted something that could represent the views of the freshmen population,� SGA chief of staff Ryan Assadi said. �When I became a freshmen senator it was the best decision I had made at Towson.� Assadi applied for the position when he was a freshman, commut-ing to campus. His orientation leader was an SGA senator at the time and really inspired him to apply, saying that it was something he needed to do to connect with Towson. �The position taught me the importance of leading from a fol-lower�s position,� Assadi said. Torrence said when considering an application, service and leader-ship are keys with an emphasis on �an interest in positive change on campus.� SGA freshmen senators repre-sent all interests of all students. These members can create or vote on legislation to be passed. Torrence plans on naming the four freshmen and one transfer senator within two weeks of the application deadline. SGA seeks freshmen, transfer "
