Obituary
JAMES EAST WAS INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED INNOVATOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Professor and Dean Emeritus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), James East was born on a farm in Paragon, Indiana, on July 22, 1931, to the late Madison Odell East and Pervie Edether East. He died in Indianapolis at the age of _______ on _________. He had lived in Indianapolis since 1967. Prior to that, he taught at two liberal arts colleges in Iowa for six years. Before coming to Iowa, he taught at San Francisco State University where he was on tenure. Prior to that, he taught three years at Stanford University.
Professor East spent most of his teaching career at IUPUI: 29 years. There, he served as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts, as Acting Dean of Liberal Arts, and as a long-time Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College and Off-Campus credit programs. As a Professor of Communication, he taught a listening course for twenty-five years and was a charter member of the International Listening Association.
He came to Indiana University’s regional campus in Indianapolis in 1967 from Midwestern College, Denison, Iowa, where he was Dean of the College. When he came to his new assignment in Indianapolis, students at the regional campus had to complete their last 30 credit hours on the IU-Bloomington campus if they wished to receive a bachelor’s degree. Only miscellaneous courses—no bachelor’s degree program—were then offered by IU’s regional campus in Indianapolis. He was hired as the academic officer of the IU-Indianapolis campus, responsible for (1) developing complete bachelor’s degree majors separate from IU-Bloomington, (2) hiring and retaining faculty, and (3) simultaneously serving as the chairman of the committee responsible for preparing a self-study of the Indianapolis regional campus for submission in 1968 to the North Central Accreditation Association for accreditation separate from the IU-Bloomington campus. In 1969, when the Indiana State Legislature decreed that the Purdue University regional campus in Indianapolis should merge with the Indiana University regional campus in Indianapolis, creating IUPUI, Professor East again chaired a second committee to produce a much larger, more complex document in 1972 for the North Central Accreditation Association describing and analyzing all the schools of the newly created IUPUI. Shortly thereafter, and based on the outstanding work of the highly organized and dedicated Professor East, IUPUI was fully accredited by the North Central Accreditation Association separate from IU-Bloomington.
Dr. East was recognized internationally as an innovator in higher education. He was the world-wide originator and developer of the concept of offering college-credit courses and degree programs in shopping centers, called Learn & Shop. He also created and served as Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College, the world’s largest, in which college courses are offered on Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. For this work, he was a two-time recipient of the CASPER award, presented by the Central Indiana Community Service Council. In 2002, he received the Indianapolis Mayor’s Community Service Award. Also, he was recognized as one of the first ten Hoosiers to receive the Indiana Jefferson Award for distinguished public service.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) in 1953, majoring in English and Latin, and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in rhetoric and public address from Stanford University in 1958 and 1960, respectively. At Stanford, he received the University Honors Scholarship and the Field-Hotaling Scholarship. The University of Indianapolis recognized him as the school’s 1992 Distinguished Alumnus. Dr. East was a 1950 graduate of Arsenal Technical High School where, as a student, he was chosen as a member of the Tech Legion honors organization and, as an alumnus, the recipient of Tech’s Hansen H. Anderson Service Award for distinguished alumni.
Dr. East began his teaching career as an English teacher at George Washington High School, Indianapolis, during the 1953-54 academic year prior to being drafted into the United States Army where he served two years, first learning shorthand at the military’s Adjutant General’s School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, to be a court recorder. Later, he was assigned as an instructor of shorthand at the school for 1 ½ years to men and women soldiers and airmen and women. After his military discharge with a National Defense Service Medal in 1956, he enrolled as a graduate student at Stanford University, California, where he also served as a teaching assistant in speech communication and as Stanford’s Assistant Director of Forensics.
Dr. East held teaching and administrative posts at Stanford University, San Francisco State University (with tenure), and Parsons College (Iowa) as Professor and Associate Dean of the College, Midwestern College (Iowa) as Dean of the College, and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (with tenure) as Professor and Dean. He coached debate at Stanford, San Francisco State, and Parsons College, and was President of the Northern California Forensic Association and the Iowa Forensic Association. In 1961, he received the Faculty Award presented by the Associated Students organization of San Francisco State University. At Parsons College, he also served as President of the School’s chapter of the Association of University Professors.
At IUPUI, he was Associate Dean of the School of Liberal Arts for twenty-nine years. Two of those years, he also served as the school’s Acting Dean and for fourteen of those years, he simultaneously served as Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College and Off-Campus Credit Programs. For more than twenty five years, he taught a listening course at IUPUI through the Department of Communication Studies while being a charter member of the International Listening Association. At IUPUI, he received the Glenn W. Irwin Jr. Excellence Recognition Faculty Award, the Edward C. Moore Top Administrator Award, and the Maynard K. Hine Alumni Leadership Award Medal presented by the Indiana University Alumni Association. He was a tenured faculty member and dean at IUPUI from 1967-1996 when he retired as Dean and Professor Emeritus.
In retirement, Professor East continued to serve IUPUI as a volunteer. For eleven years, he taught a college-credit listening course each semester without pay. During those eleven years, he also served as a volunteer Coordinator of IUPUI’s very popular non-credit public relations Bookmarks Program off campus in which students read a book a week for six consecutive weeks, offered both in the fall and spring semesters. In this capacity, he was responsible for selecting the books and securing IUPUI faculty and staff as facilitators, thus showcasing IUPUI’s talented faculty and staff. For two years, Professor East also served as President of the IUPUI Senior Academy, an organization of retired faculty and staff from all IUPUI schools in support of the university.
When he was hired by Indiana University in 1967, students taking courses at IU’s regional campus in Indianapolis had to take their last 30 credit hours for their majors on the IU-Bloomington campus if they wanted a baccalaureate degree in the arts and sciences, business administration, and education. Since he had a considerable background in curriculum planning and close ties with the North Central Accreditation Association (NCAA), IU hired him to plan and develop baccalaureate degree programs separate from those offered at Indiana University-Bloomington and, simultaneously, to get them ready for review and accreditation by the NCAA. He later served as the Chairman of IUPUI’s committees in organizing and presenting the required documentation for two separate visits (and accreditation) by the NCAA.
In 1968, he organized IUPUI’s Guided Study Program which was designed to meet the needs of a number of students denied university admission because they failed to meet the required academic criteria. Through this program, Dr. East and a small supporting staff provided guidance and counseling, remedial instruction, moral support and encouragement.
For thirty-three years, he served as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis until 2006. During that period as chairman of the organization’s scholarship committee, he organized and directed the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis Scholarship Program, the largest such program in the more than 3,000 Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the United States. What is now called the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis James R. East Scholarship Program is now endowed in excess of $1,200,000. In 1950, at the age of 19, he was one of four boy members throughout the United States representing the Boys’ Clubs of America at the Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth, hosted by President Harry S. Truman. In 1970, he was a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the national Boys’ Clubs of America in Boston, Massachusetts, substituting for astronaut Neil Armstrong who was forced to cancel at the last minute as a result of an assignment with the Space Agency.
He became a member of the English Avenue Boys’ Club (now the Lilly Boys & Girls Club) at the age of five and continued his support of the organization the rest of his life. Over the years, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis bestowed its highest honors on him: Leadership Achievement Award (1985), its first Distinguished Alumnus Award (1990), and the prestigious Horatio Alger Award (2003).
From 1996 to 2007, he was a Trustee of the Anne K. Raikos Charitable Supporting Foundation, headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.
He published 24 journal articles and three books: Teaching in Shopping Centers, on Weekends, and by Television: A Guide for Colleges and Universities, Resource Book for Rhetoric and Public Speaking, and his English translation of Brunetto Latini’s Li Livres dou Tresor, III. His biography is included in Outstanding Young Men of America (1966), Presidents and Deans of American Colleges and Universities (1966), and Who’s Who in American Education (1966). His dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Stanford University is titled “Book Three of Brunetto Latini’s Tresor: An English Translation and Assessment of Its Contribution to Rhetorical Theory.”
In his early adult years, acting and performing were favorite pastimes. He played the role of Sir Edward with Hollywood actors Patricia Morrison and Anthony Dexter in The King and I and the role of Captain McLean with Hollywood actor Eddie Bracken in Teahouse of the August Moon. He wrote three one-act plays and enjoyed ballroom and tap dancing. Symbolizing the passing of leadership on his retirement to his successor, the couple appeared in a tap dancing routine at the American Cabaret Theatre in Indianapolis.
Survivors: wife of ____ years, Marilyn B. East; daughters Allegra Lynn East and Deidre East Guerrettaz; sons Guy Madison East and Gregory James East; stepdaughter Sara Shapiro Davis; stepsons David Paul Shapiro and Timothy Scott Shapiro; six grandsons and seven granddaughters; four step-grandsons and two step-granddaughters. For thirteen years prior to her death in 1967, he was married to the late Allegra Young East who was the mother of their four children. His three siblings preceded him in death: Bernadine Phillips, Ruby Scruggs, and Paul East.
Visitation will be held on (day, date, time) at Second Presbyterian Church where he was a long-time elder from 1968 until his death. Memorial Services will follow in the sanctuary. Burial will be at Crown Hill Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Central Indiana Community Foundation for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis’ James R. East Scholarship Fund, or to the Indiana University Foundation for the James R. East Scholarship in the School of Liberal Arts.
Prepared and updated by James R. East – September 21, 2007
JAMES EAST WAS INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED INNOVATOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Professor and Dean Emeritus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), James East was born on a farm in Paragon, Indiana, on July 22, 1931, to the late Madison Odell East and Pervie Edether East. He died in Indianapolis at the age of _______ on _________. He had lived in Indianapolis since 1967. Prior to that, he taught at two liberal arts colleges in Iowa for six years. Before coming to Iowa, he taught at San Francisco State University where he was on tenure. Prior to that, he taught three years at Stanford University.
Professor East spent most of his teaching career at IUPUI: 29 years. There, he served as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts, as Acting Dean of Liberal Arts, and as a long-time Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College and Off-Campus credit programs. As a Professor of Communication, he taught a listening course for twenty-five years and was a charter member of the International Listening Association.
He came to Indiana University’s regional campus in Indianapolis in 1967 from Midwestern College, Denison, Iowa, where he was Dean of the College. When he came to his new assignment in Indianapolis, students at the regional campus had to complete their last 30 credit hours on the IU-Bloomington campus if they wished to receive a bachelor’s degree. Only miscellaneous courses—no bachelor’s degree program—were then offered by IU’s regional campus in Indianapolis. He was hired as the academic officer of the IU-Indianapolis campus, responsible for (1) developing complete bachelor’s degree majors separate from IU-Bloomington, (2) hiring and retaining faculty, and (3) simultaneously serving as the chairman of the committee responsible for preparing a self-study of the Indianapolis regional campus for submission in 1968 to the North Central Accreditation Association for accreditation separate from the IU-Bloomington campus. In 1969, when the Indiana State Legislature decreed that the Purdue University regional campus in Indianapolis should merge with the Indiana University regional campus in Indianapolis, creating IUPUI, Professor East again chaired a second committee to produce a much larger, more complex document in 1972 for the North Central Accreditation Association describing and analyzing all the schools of the newly created IUPUI. Shortly thereafter, and based on the outstanding work of the highly organized and dedicated Professor East, IUPUI was fully accredited by the North Central Accreditation Association separate from IU-Bloomington.
Dr. East was recognized internationally as an innovator in higher education. He was the world-wide originator and developer of the concept of offering college-credit courses and degree programs in shopping centers, called Learn & Shop. He also created and served as Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College, the world’s largest, in which college courses are offered on Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. For this work, he was a two-time recipient of the CASPER award, presented by the Central Indiana Community Service Council. In 2002, he received the Indianapolis Mayor’s Community Service Award. Also, he was recognized as one of the first ten Hoosiers to receive the Indiana Jefferson Award for distinguished public service.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) in 1953, majoring in English and Latin, and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in rhetoric and public address from Stanford University in 1958 and 1960, respectively. At Stanford, he received the University Honors Scholarship and the Field-Hotaling Scholarship. The University of Indianapolis recognized him as the school’s 1992 Distinguished Alumnus. Dr. East was a 1950 graduate of Arsenal Technical High School where, as a student, he was chosen as a member of the Tech Legion honors organization and, as an alumnus, the recipient of Tech’s Hansen H. Anderson Service Award for distinguished alumni.
Dr. East began his teaching career as an English teacher at George Washington High School, Indianapolis, during the 1953-54 academic year prior to being drafted into the United States Army where he served two years, first learning shorthand at the military’s Adjutant General’s School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, to be a court recorder. Later, he was assigned as an instructor of shorthand at the school for 1 ½ years to men and women soldiers and airmen and women. After his military discharge with a National Defense Service Medal in 1956, he enrolled as a graduate student at Stanford University, California, where he also served as a teaching assistant in speech communication and as Stanford’s Assistant Director of Forensics.
Dr. East held teaching and administrative posts at Stanford University, San Francisco State University (with tenure), and Parsons College (Iowa) as Professor and Associate Dean of the College, Midwestern College (Iowa) as Dean of the College, and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (with tenure) as Professor and Dean. He coached debate at Stanford, San Francisco State, and Parsons College, and was President of the Northern California Forensic Association and the Iowa Forensic Association. In 1961, he received the Faculty Award presented by the Associated Students organization of San Francisco State University. At Parsons College, he also served as President of the School’s chapter of the Association of University Professors.
At IUPUI, he was Associate Dean of the School of Liberal Arts for twenty-nine years. Two of those years, he also served as the school’s Acting Dean and for fourteen of those years, he simultaneously served as Dean of IUPUI’s Weekend College and Off-Campus Credit Programs. For more than twenty five years, he taught a listening course at IUPUI through the Department of Communication Studies while being a charter member of the International Listening Association. At IUPUI, he received the Glenn W. Irwin Jr. Excellence Recognition Faculty Award, the Edward C. Moore Top Administrator Award, and the Maynard K. Hine Alumni Leadership Award Medal presented by the Indiana University Alumni Association. He was a tenured faculty member and dean at IUPUI from 1967-1996 when he retired as Dean and Professor Emeritus.
In retirement, Professor East continued to serve IUPUI as a volunteer. For eleven years, he taught a college-credit listening course each semester without pay. During those eleven years, he also served as a volunteer Coordinator of IUPUI’s very popular non-credit public relations Bookmarks Program off campus in which students read a book a week for six consecutive weeks, offered both in the fall and spring semesters. In this capacity, he was responsible for selecting the books and securing IUPUI faculty and staff as facilitators, thus showcasing IUPUI’s talented faculty and staff. For two years, Professor East also served as President of the IUPUI Senior Academy, an organization of retired faculty and staff from all IUPUI schools in support of the university.
When he was hired by Indiana University in 1967, students taking courses at IU’s regional campus in Indianapolis had to take their last 30 credit hours for their majors on the IU-Bloomington campus if they wanted a baccalaureate degree in the arts and sciences, business administration, and education. Since he had a considerable background in curriculum planning and close ties with the North Central Accreditation Association (NCAA), IU hired him to plan and develop baccalaureate degree programs separate from those offered at Indiana University-Bloomington and, simultaneously, to get them ready for review and accreditation by the NCAA. He later served as the Chairman of IUPUI’s committees in organizing and presenting the required documentation for two separate visits (and accreditation) by the NCAA.
In 1968, he organized IUPUI’s Guided Study Program which was designed to meet the needs of a number of students denied university admission because they failed to meet the required academic criteria. Through this program, Dr. East and a small supporting staff provided guidance and counseling, remedial instruction, moral support and encouragement.
For thirty-three years, he served as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis until 2006. During that period as chairman of the organization’s scholarship committee, he organized and directed the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis Scholarship Program, the largest such program in the more than 3,000 Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the United States. What is now called the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis James R. East Scholarship Program is now endowed in excess of $1,200,000. In 1950, at the age of 19, he was one of four boy members throughout the United States representing the Boys’ Clubs of America at the Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth, hosted by President Harry S. Truman. In 1970, he was a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the national Boys’ Clubs of America in Boston, Massachusetts, substituting for astronaut Neil Armstrong who was forced to cancel at the last minute as a result of an assignment with the Space Agency.
He became a member of the English Avenue Boys’ Club (now the Lilly Boys & Girls Club) at the age of five and continued his support of the organization the rest of his life. Over the years, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis bestowed its highest honors on him: Leadership Achievement Award (1985), its first Distinguished Alumnus Award (1990), and the prestigious Horatio Alger Award (2003).
From 1996 to 2007, he was a Trustee of the Anne K. Raikos Charitable Supporting Foundation, headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.
He published 24 journal articles and three books: Teaching in Shopping Centers, on Weekends, and by Television: A Guide for Colleges and Universities, Resource Book for Rhetoric and Public Speaking, and his English translation of Brunetto Latini’s Li Livres dou Tresor, III. His biography is included in Outstanding Young Men of America (1966), Presidents and Deans of American Colleges and Universities (1966), and Who’s Who in American Education (1966). His dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Stanford University is titled “Book Three of Brunetto Latini’s Tresor: An English Translation and Assessment of Its Contribution to Rhetorical Theory.”
In his early adult years, acting and performing were favorite pastimes. He played the role of Sir Edward with Hollywood actors Patricia Morrison and Anthony Dexter in The King and I and the role of Captain McLean with Hollywood actor Eddie Bracken in Teahouse of the August Moon. He wrote three one-act plays and enjoyed ballroom and tap dancing. Symbolizing the passing of leadership on his retirement to his successor, the couple appeared in a tap dancing routine at the American Cabaret Theatre in Indianapolis.
Survivors: wife of ____ years, Marilyn B. East; daughters Allegra Lynn East and Deidre East Guerrettaz; sons Guy Madison East and Gregory James East; stepdaughter Sara Shapiro Davis; stepsons David Paul Shapiro and Timothy Scott Shapiro; six grandsons and seven granddaughters; four step-grandsons and two step-granddaughters. For thirteen years prior to her death in 1967, he was married to the late Allegra Young East who was the mother of their four children. His three siblings preceded him in death: Bernadine Phillips, Ruby Scruggs, and Paul East.
Visitation will be held on (day, date, time) at Second Presbyterian Church where he was a long-time elder from 1968 until his death. Memorial Services will follow in the sanctuary. Burial will be at Crown Hill Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Central Indiana Community Foundation for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis’ James R. East Scholarship Fund, or to the Indiana University Foundation for the James R. East Scholarship in the School of Liberal Arts.
Prepared and updated by James R. East – September 21, 2007
