Growing and Tending: A Memorial for Arlin Glenn Meyer

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In Memoriam: Arlin Glenn Meyer

Arlin Glenn Meyer, Dean of Christ College 1978-1990, died at his home in Valparaiso on February 8, 2017. He was 79.

He grew up in Sioux Center, Iowa, and earned a BA in English from Calvin College, an MA from the University of Michigan, and a PhD from The Ohio University. He began teaching at Valparaiso University in the Department of English in 1967.  He and his wife, Sharon, and their two children spent two years in Cambridge, England, directing the University’s international study center there. Arlin became chair of the department of English 1975. In 1978 he was named dean of Christ College and served in that role for twelve years.

Arlin Meyer’s Christ College deanship was marked by a significant increase in student enrollment in the college, the development of the CC Symposium speaker series, and the introduction of The Spillikin, CC’s newsletter for alumni.

In 1990 Arlin Meyer began his tenure as program director of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts from its inception in 1990 and until his retirement in 2002. In that time he grew the national network of church-related colleges from 25 to 70. Institutions. Today LFP has nearly 100 member schools. Meyer recruited 34 postdoctoral fellows to teach at Valparaiso University for two years each while they prepared for careers in church-related higher education. And he helped write the grants that raised more than $7 million for the Program.

Arlin kept a list of authors whose work he believed was essential reading. The list is titled simply Meyer’s 100.  The original is typed on both sides of a single sheet of paper, in alphabetical by author, Henry Adams through Emile Zola. Most authors have two or three or four of their books named, making the list of three or four hundreds books very, very rich. Arlin Meyer had 100, we commend you to remember Arlin Meyer as you start your own lists.

Sharon Meyer, continues to work at the Christopher Center for Library and Information Services at the University. Son Kenton Meyer ’85, his wife, Colleen, and son Matthew live in Valparaiso. Daughter Kristin Meyer ‘90, her husband, Mark Geistlinger ’90, and children Luke, Eliza, and Zoe live in Madison, Wisconsin.

Memorials may be made to Valparaiso University or Immanuel Lutheran Church, Valparaiso.