Honoring Dr. Kim Foreman

I remember finding out that Dr. Kim Foreman was my advisor at the beginning of my first semester of school and I was worried. Worried because when I looked Kim up, it seemed we had so little in common. Here I was a 50 year old pagan dyke embarking on a new and terrifying journey—and my advisor was a Christian missionary. Then I met Kim. I took ITEC 800. I remember that first day in class, her hard-nosed, hard-ass introduction—you’ll work 7+ hours a week outside of class and don’t be absent or you’ll lose a grade. And, frankly, I was more worried. As the semester progressed, I started to worry less. I enjoyed the way that Kim taught learning theories and mirrored those theories in the ways she taught them and the assignments she gave. I enjoyed her sense of humor and political prospective. She had a broad internationalist prospective—which I really appreciated and resonated with. Her idea of education blew the doors of political boundaries and “no child left unharmed” strictures. A year later, I took ITEC 830—where she opened the door to web 2.0 technology and its education potential and propelled us all through that door to see what we could see. She brought in speakers in the industry who clearly respected her and enlivened our class immeasurably. I remember her sharing her video story with us—it was so personal and beautiful, it made me cry (OK, I cry at just about anything)—but her story and the honesty of it inspired me to create a story that was really important to me and my life. But that’s what Kim did, I believe, she inspired her students to do great things and think great thoughts. And finally, I feel like Kim, as demanding a teacher as she was, provided an incredible level of support to me. Undertaking the program was a scary thing for me, to have someone who I respected as much as Kim Foreman telling me that I could do it, that what I was doing was good, was amazing. Although apprehensive about my thesis, I was so looking forward to working with her on it this fall. One of the last things she wrote to me over the summer was that she was looking forward to my creative thesis so she could use it in 830. She had this wonderful ability to provide confidence when mine was waning and I will miss that and her deeply. Goodbye Kim, thank you for inspiring and enlivening our lives and the world and making it a better place to learn in.