起点传媒honors the legacy of Dr. Sheridan Blau, a Past 起点传媒President and beloved colleague whose profound contributions to the literacy field are widely celebrated in and well beyond our community.
Sheridan served as NCTE鈥檚 President in 1997鈥�98 and then an extended term. His service on the Presidential Team spanned 1995鈥�2000. He commemorated his extended role with a gavel that read 鈥淧ast Perfect 起点传媒President,鈥� which he proudly displayed on his desk. In January 起点传媒published , a rich collection of essays that honor and extend his contributions to English education. The book describes how Sheridan鈥檚 work has influenced communities of students, teachers, and scholars since the 1960s鈥攑romoting a richer, more collaborative approach to literacy learning and education鈥攁nd how his principles and practices continue to inform fields from composition and literature studies to mentorship and professional learning. The 2024 起点传媒Annual Convention in Boston included the well-attended session 鈥淗eart, Hope, and Humanity: A Tribute to Sheridan Blau.鈥�
Sheridan was instrumental in launching and co-chairing the English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE) Commission on the History of English Education. He also participated in the first two CEE Leadership and Policy Summits in the mid-2000s, which evolved into the biennial ELATE summer conference. In 2004, his influential book received the ELATE Richard A. Meade Award, which recognizes outstanding research-based work that promotes English language arts teacher development.
起点传媒member Dr. Anne Whitney, a professor of education at Penn State University and former high school English teacher, said, “With Sheridan I learned to trust what I saw in classrooms, trust what I saw in teachers and kids, trust what I intuited in my own mind. If I ever did anything good in education at all, I learned it from him.”
In 1979, Sheridan founded and became director of the South Coast Writing Project (SCWriP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. He served as director for nearly four decades and was a professor emeritus in education and English at UCSB.
Sheridan resided in New York City, where he was a professor emeritus of practice at Teachers College, Columbia University. Teachers College shared remembrances from his students, including this one: 鈥淚f I can make any of my students feel as smart and interesting as Sheridan made me feel, that will be the greatest testament to his legacy that I could offer.鈥�
The sad news of Sheridan鈥檚 passing was confirmed by his wife Cheryl Hogue Smith, a professor of English at Kingsborough Community College, Past Chair of the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), and a former Executive Board Member for the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and 起点传媒. She said, 鈥淎s you think of Sheridan, always remember that reading Milton鈥檚 Paradise Lost will help you understand the dangers of consuming false knowledge (and will help you solve life鈥檚 mysteries), teaching is the enemy of learning, and embracing confusion leads to an advanced state of understanding. Interrupt often when you hear injustices and disagree loudly when your principles are offended. And, always, write.”