Professor Emeritus Jay Minn

Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages Jay Minn, a member of the Knox faculty for 24 years, died earlier this month at his home in Tucson, Arizona.

"Professor Minn will be remembered fondly by generations of Knox students as a very effective French professor," said Knox College President Roger Taylor.

A scholar of 19th century French literature, Minn received his BA at Depauw University, and his MA and PHD degrees at the University of Illinois, where his doctoral dissertation was a study of the personality of the 19th-century French poet Artur Rimbaud.

When Minn retired in 1988, a resolution passed by his colleagues on the Knox faculty praised him as a "professor par excellence," noting his skill as "an interpreter of Rimbaud and the French Symbolists," and his role as "a guiding light both of the Besancon program and French studies at Knox."

Minn, who came to Knox in 1964, is credited, along with two colleagues -- the late Elna Jeffries and the late Elisabeth Baylor, with cofounding in 1966 Knox's study abroad program in France. Located at the University of Besancon, in eastern France, it is widely recognized as one of the earliest and best examples of a study-abroad program. Minn served numerous tours as on-site director of the program, which has sent than 800 American students from Knox and other colleges to study at Besancon.

Minn's publications include a chapter in the book "Teaching for Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Guide for Building the Modern Curriculum." Most recently, he published a translation of the 19th century French classic "The Desert," by Pierre Loti, and was hailed by one critic for "going to great lengths to preserve the enchanting quality of Loti's prose."

In interment service is scheduled for Friday, December 7, 2007, at Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson.