This year, a group of UNC alumni are leading a fundraising effort to establish a professorship in memory of James Kimball King, professor emeritus of English, in the Department of English and Comparative Literature.
King passed away in April 2019. The fundraising effort, whose donors include various members of the UNC Board of Trustees, is aiming to collect $2.5 million to fund the professorship.
Trustee Dr. Perrin Jones said professorships like the one being funded for King help to evaluate and celebrate the contributions of past faculty.
“Having professorships allows us to go out and recruit the best and brightest faculty, and at the same time, it helps us to reflect back on the traditions that we hold dear at UNC," Jones said.
During his 40 years of teaching at UNC, King was a professor emeritus of English as well as an adjunct professor of dramatic arts.
Although apprehensive about taking a class discussing British theater during his undergraduate career, BOT Chair John Preyer eventually decided to try to get a seat in one of King's classes. Unfortunately, all of his classes were full.
“I went to go see Dr. King in his office and I said, ‘I'd really like to take this class — is there any way you can make room for me?’ And he very graciously did, as he often did for students that would come and ask,” Preyer said.
Even outside of his class and his trips, King managed to make an impression on students of all ages.
“To me, a freshman coming into Carolina, he had a certain poise and dignity in the way that he carried himself that really made a huge impression upon me,” Jones said.
Jones would later go on to take a class with King. He said King taught in a way that instilled in his students with a love of learning and literature, rather than emphasizing a grade. Despite sometimes teaching larger lectures, King made a point of trying to keep his classes personal and intimate.
“It was like having a class in your living room where the professor set up a projector," Preyer said. "I mean, he just had an infectious way of making you not only appreciate the subject matter but really love it."
Over the course of 25 summers, King led a trip to London where students were given the opportunity to experience theater firsthand. Ramsey White, a UNC alumna, trustee and former student of King, went on the trip. She said she was so enthralled by the performance of “Rent” that she forgot to take off one sleeve of her raincoat until intermission.
“He pushed the limits on what most of us thought theater could be,” White said.
