Sharing the Sad News of Glenna Breslin’s Passing
Dear Saint Mary’s Community,
I am sorry to share the news that Emeritus Professor Glenna L. Breslin, who retired in 2014 after serving the English department and the College for 39 years, passed away on June 16th. Our community is diminished by this loss.
Dr. Breslin made countless contributions to the life of Saint Mary’s College and was widely respected as an inspirational mentor, generous collaborator, and classroom innovator by her students and colleagues. In her colleagues’ words, “we have been honored by her presence among us.”
The following is adapted from the English department’s letter nominating Glenna Breslin for Professor Emerita:
During her time at Saint Mary’s, Glenna performed groundbreaking scholarship, created exciting courses, inspired generations of students, founded essential programs, and generously mentored new colleagues.
Her original scholarship on the American poet Lorine Niedecker was crucial to Neidecker studies. Her scores of interviews and discoveries of letters and documents have provided later scholars with a wealth of primary material, and her explorations of Niedecker’s environments have enriched our understanding of the poet's nature-based writing. Later scholars substantially revised their assessment of Niedecker’s work because of Glenna’s scholarship.
In the classroom, Glenna was an innovator. In courses she created, her students hiked and wrote about nature; they wrote short pieces and arranged them into collage essays. They studied Flannery O'Connor, the Southern novel, and storytelling women. Students loved Glenna and were inspired by her. Members of one MFA course she taught continued to meet regularly with her long after the semester ended, reading together and sharing their writing. In her most famous course evaluation a student labeled her “the goddess of English."
The Saint Mary's curriculum owes much to Glenna’s labor. As a young faculty member she fought to establish the college's writing requirement and then served as the first director of what was then called the Better Writing Program. She also contributed to the development of the original Women’s Studies minor. Glenna was a tremendously supportive mentor to new faculty, who learned much about the classroom and our institution from her.
Fittingly, a picture of Glenna holding Adrienne Rich’s Diving into the Wreck hangs in the third floor hallway of Dante Hall. She is quoted saying: “I felt Rich's poems like a blow to the chest. The top of my head lifted. She gave me the courage to change.”
A celebration of Glenna Breslin’s life will take place on Saturday, July 9th at 1pm at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way in Berkeley. Condolences can be sent to her daughter Jennifer Tompkins, 461 Southwood Avenue West, Twin Falls, ID 83301.
A beloved colleague and caring mentor, she will be greatly missed.
With warm regards,
Corey Cook
Executive Vice President and Provost