In Memoriam.

James Gunn founded his original Center for the Study of Science Fiction in 1982-1983 as a Kansas Board of Regents research center at the University of Kansas, the first such organization at a major university, then after a significant endowment re-established it in 1991 as the J Wayne and Elsie M Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. He established it as a focus for the SF programs he offered at KU, beginning in 1969-1970 with one of the first regular science-fiction courses ever offered at a major university. Even at 97 years wise, he continued to advise and serve the center to his final days (Jim died in December, 2020).

Jim was a science fiction author and historian, KU professor emeritus of English, SFWA Grand Master (see here for more), and SF Hall of Fame inductee. He served as a past president of both SFRA and SFWA, chaired the Campbell Award jury from 1978-2018 to select the best science-fiction novel of the year, and served on the advisory board of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame for its formative years. See his bio page for his bibliography and more information, and this memorial tribute for some photos and several stories honoring his life.

Contact: jgunn@falcon.cc.ukans.edu

Chris McKitterick began serving the center in 1992, was named Assistant Director in 1995, and became Associate Director in 2002 when he began teaching full-time at KU. In 2010, Gunn and the Board of Advisors promoted him to Director, and he served in this role until January 2022, when the English department finished taking over the Center and he began running the new Ad Astra Institute for Science Fiction & the Speculative Imagination. He believes strongly in collaboration, so during his leadership we grew the Advisory Board and added new staff, including Division Heads, Affiliated Faculty, Fellows, the International Science Fiction Consortium, the AboutSF educational-outreach program, and more, and began to found branch offices starting in 2015.

McKitterick continues to offer his Speculative Fiction Writers Workshop, Intensive Institute on the Study of SF, and other creative writing and science fiction courses in Lawrence and elsewhere (including hybrid online), and served on many thesis and dissertation committees. His short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and other work has been published in a variety of magazines, journals, and anthologies. His debut novel, Transcendence, was published by Hadley Rille Books. His "Ashes of Exploding Suns, Monuments to Dust" won the 2018 AnLab Reader's Award for best novelette.

He's also a popular public speaker on SF, writing, and the future. McKitterick built and maintained the center's websites and outreach from 1992-2022, organized the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award jury and ran the nomination process from 1994-2016, and administered and chaired the committee for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel and served on its jury from 2002-2020.

Contact: cmckit.sf@gmail.com 

Kij Johnson began serving the center in 1995. In 2004, Gunn named her Associate Director, which she served until 2022 after the English department takeover. KU hired her full-time as Assistant Professor of creative writing in 2012, and promoted her to Associate Professor in 2018.

Kij's numerous fantasy and SF novels and short stories have won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (which she has served as juror since 1996, and now manages), World Fantasy Award (three times, and has since served as juror), Nebula Award (three times), IAFA Crawford Award, Gran Prix de la Imaginaire, and Hugo Award. Her work has also been a finalist for many other honors.

Kij teaches her Science Fiction & Fantasy Novel Writing Workshop, a number of regular-semester writing and fantasy-related courses at KU, serves on numerous thesis and dissertation committees, is Associate Professor of Fiction Writing in the University of Kansas English Department, and serves as Associate Director of the Ad Astra Institute for Science Fiction & the Speculative Imagination.

Contact: kijjohnson@gmail.com 

Isaac Bell was our all-around assistant, having served as AboutSF educational-outreach coordinator, launched James Gunn's Ad Astra magazine, helped build our our lending library, and is a vital part of our operations. He recently earned his MA from the English Department at the University of Kansas, and teaches writing and rhetoric.

Isaac writes science fiction, and studied SF and writing under James Gunn, Kij Johnson, Chris McKitterick, and faculty of the KU English Department.

Dan Dutcher wrote some of our releases, news items, and reports, and works with news services.

He discovered his love of books when his mother started buying him illustrated classics in elementary school. After that, he read everything he could find. He started writing his own stories in eighth grade, and wrote for the yearbook and newspaper all four years of high school. In 2013, he graduated from the KU School of Journalism and Mass Communications and is now the district manager for the Lawrence Journal-World. Science fiction and fantasy are his favorite genres, especially if they include time travel or astronomy. His current favorite SF book is The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov.

Contact: dan.dutcher@gmail.com 

Amanda Hemmingsen heads the Lawrence Science Fiction Club, co-Chaired Academic Programming for the 2016 Conference at WorldCon in Kansas City, serves as Poetry Editor for James Gunn's Ad Astra, and is an all-around vital part of the Center's operations.

She wrote her Master's thesis on post-1968 dystopian novels. It's been a few years now and she's still obsessed with the genre, among her other SF paramours.

Have something to say about a dystopian novel? Get in touch: ahemmingsen6@gmail.com

Ruth Lichtwardt worked with us since our earliest days, and served as administrator of the Conference and Division Head for Events.

As a KU student, Ruth took several of Jim Gunn's writing classes, and later initiated the tradition of the annual Conference book signing while working as a trade book buyer in the KU Union bookstore. She is active in Kansas City and Lawrence-area SF clubs and conventions, including ConQuesT, where she runs the benefit auction with AboutSF as the recipient. She has also held various positions at several WorldCons including Hugo Awards administrator. Ruth was Chair of MidAmeriCon II, the 74th Worldcon, held in Kansas City, MO, in 2016. Her day job has nothing to do with science fiction but helps feed the habit.

Latha Nair is the Director of the James Gunn Centre for the Study of Science Fiction at St Teresa's College in Ernakulam, Kerala (in India), honoring Jim. Latha participated in the 2014 Conference and McKitterick's Intensive Institute on the Study of SF, and got government support to create our first international affiliated center in 2015.

Latha is a Professor of English Literature at St Teresa's, where she teaches science fiction. She also headed the International Conference on World Science Fiction in India 2014, and leads SF writing workshops through James Gunn Centre Kerala.

Contact: drlathanairr@gmail.com

Dr. Michael Page co-Chaired Academic Programming for the 2016 Conference at WorldCon in Kansas City. Starting in 2015, he was the contact for our special symposium on the current state and future directions in SF education for the 21st century: "From the Fringes to the Classroom: What's Next in SF Education?" Since then, he's headed up academic programming for the Conference. He is also a Research Fellow and Affiliated Faculty, working with the us, and is to be the incoming Director of the James Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction in Lincoln, Nebraska (before the takeover, this was to begin operations in 2022).

Mike teaches science fiction and holds an administrative position in the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His association with the Gunn Center began in 2007 when he attended Gunn and McKitterick's Intensive Institute on the Study of SF. In 2013, Mike organized a panel in honor of James Gunn at the joint Eaton/SFRA conference in Riverside, CA, which also included tributes by Chris McKitterick, Nathaniel Williams, and Marleen Barr.

Mike wrote the first critical study of James Gunn, Saving the World Through Science Fiction: James Gunn, Writer, Teacher, Scholar, published by the University of Illinois Press in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series. His prior book, Frederik Pohl, was also released in the Modern Masters series. Mike is the editor of a collection of stories, The Man with the Strange Head, by Miles J. Breuer, an early science fiction pioneer. His critical study, The Literary Imagination from Erasmus Darwin to H.G. Wells: Science, Evolution, and Ecology, explores the intersections between literature and science in the nineteenth century. His latest essay on Golden Age science fiction and ecology appears in Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, edited by Gerry Canavan and Kim Stanley Robinson. 

Contact: mpage3@unl.edu 

Elspeth Healey is the Special Collections Librarian of the KU Spencer Research Library, and the primary contact for the Science Fiction Collections, part of what originally launched the center even before it was founded by James Gunn and the Regents. Since its original donation in 2011, Elspeth has taken the lead in cataloguing the Sturgeon Collection, has presented at many SF events, organized viewings, hosted events at the Spencer, and continues to participate in many other center and SF projects.

If you have a question about science fiction research and library materials at KU, Elspeth is your go-to person!

Contact: ehealey@falcon.cc.ukans.edu