Kurt Nordstrom, a retired professor, died April 21 in his home in Colorado.
Nordstrom was a journalism professor and one of the founders of the journalism department at Chico State. He served form 1991 to 1994 as the department’s first elected chair.
Nordstrom was an advocate for diversity on campus and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Chico State in 2010 for fostering Conversations on Diversity.
He created a scholarship for gender, diversity and inclusion when he retired in 2013. You can donate to the scholarship here using the scholarship account 17042.
Elizabeth Helmer can be reached at [email protected] or @lizziehelmer on Twitter.
Tara Turner // Apr 29, 2016 at 12:35 am
Ah, man I am so sorry to hear this news. I loved this guy! I had to cram in some credit over the summer of ’93 and I took his writing course. I hate to write, but he had such an infectious and engaging wit about him that I found myself looking forward to coming to his class. On the first day of class, he wanted us to ask him anything that we wanted to know about him. I can’t remember his response to my question, but I remember him being very intrigued by what I had asked. ” If you could choose your parents, who would you choose and why?” Another student asked him what type of car he drove. Loved his response, “Are you kidding me? I live amongst all of you drunken trolls, I drive a Volvo.” The guy had a great sense of humor and was so involved with his students that you wanted nothing more than to learn everything you could from him. He pushed and pushed us to become better writers. He will be greatly missed. Thank you for the great memories, “If you think that I am part of the Nordstrom, Inc. family; do you REALLY think that I’d be working here?” – Kurt Nordstrom. Ha, haa!
Tara Turner // Apr 28, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Ah, man I am so sorry to hear this news. I loved this guy! I had to cram in some credit over the summer of ’93 and I took his writing course. I hate to write, but he had such an infectious and engaging whit about him that I found myself looking forward to coming to his class. On the first day of class, he wanted us to ask him anything that we wanted to know about him. I can’t remember his response to my question, but I remember him being very intrigued by what I had asked. ” If you could choose your parents, who would you chose and why?” Another student asked him what type of car he drove. Loved his response, “Are you kidding me? I live amongst all of you drunken trolls, I drive a Volvo.” The guy had a great sense of humor and was so involved with his students that you wanted nothing more than to learn everything you could from him. He pushed and pushed us to become better writers. He will be greatly missed. Thank you for the great memories, “If you think that I am part of the Nordstrom, Inc. family; do you REALLY think that I’d be working here?” – Kurt Nordstrom. Ha, haa!