Larry Johannessen
by Tom Parisi
NIU English Professor Larry Johannessen experienced the horrors of war and lived to teach about it.
Johannessen, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who had served two tours of duty in Vietnam, taught popular courses at NIU on the literature and films of the war – courses that some students described as life-changing.
He deeply understood the power of literature, cared about the art of teaching and empathized with the struggles new teachers encountered in the classroom. For most of his academic career, Johannessen mentored students who would go on to inspire others as he had inspired them.
Johannessen, of Wheaton, died Tuesday, April 21, at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. He was 61. He had been on medical leave this semester but was planning to return to the NIU campus.
“People have been saying all week that he was a teacher’s teacher,” said Jan Vander Meer, office administrator in the NIU Department of English. “He loved to teach, and he opened his heart and gave his knowledge to so many others.”
Johannessen received his master’s degree in English and Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago. He taught at Lyons Township High School and several Chicago area universities before coming to NIU in 2001. He worked for four years as the English department’s director of undergraduate studies and played a large role in the department’s teacher certification program.
He also was a prolific author of scholarship on the teaching of English at the secondary level, having published books and numerous articles on the topic. In 2005, he co-authored a landmark study on how to anticipate and counteract the daunting challenges that oftentimes drive new English teachers out of the profession.
“In a department that has many wonderful teachers, Larry was nonetheless a standout,” said Phil Eubanks, acting chair of English.
“He was one of those lucky people who worked on his two passions,” Eubanks added. “One of those passions was teaching students how to teach English; the other was the literature of Vietnam. Students would frequently describe his courses as the best class they had taken at NIU or even as a life-changing experience. All of his courses got high praise, but the one that moved students the most was the literature of Vietnam.”
Fondly known to students as “Dr. J.,” Johannessen taught the literature class at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He frequently brought in veterans of the wars in both Vietnam and Iraq as guest speakers. While he rarely spoke with colleagues about his military service, he opened up to students.
“It was a very unique and special class. He shared some of his own experiences,” said Bonnie Miller-O’Dell, an NIU Ph.D. student who took Johannessen’s course on Vietnam. “We learned what literature can do. It can make a profound experience, such as war, real – even for people who didn’t experience it.”
Colleagues also remember Johannessen for his friendliness – he always had a wide smile, kind words and a stash of chocolate. He would regularly replenish a candy jar in the undergraduate advising office, and it suddenly became a popular place to congregate, said Professor Judy Pokorny, coordinator for teacher certification in English.
“Larry was a very fine teacher, but he was just the nicest person,” Pokorny said.
“He instituted the chocolate candy routine,” she recalled. “It was in the spirit of the idea that we all need to be positive and that we all need a little cheering up from time to time. By putting out that candy jar, it actually bolstered relationships among faculty members and students – people started stopping in to say hi.
“Larry left quite a legacy,” she added. “We’re really going to miss him.”
Johannessen is survived by his wife of 27 years, Elizabeth Kahn. A memorial service was held Saturday, April 25, in Wheaton.