Student Memories of Chris Norris

My most vivid memory of Chris is from a lecture during an Introduction to English Literature course in the fall of 1984. She was explaining Milton's elevated view of the world. Despite a rather short sweater dress and platform shoes, she jumped up on top of a table at the front of the room and looked down upon the students. This made the point. I'm glad for all of my fond memories of her, but I am thankful for how she challenged me to improve my writing skills. I suspect there are thousands of people who feel the same.

~ Jim Tunnell

I first heard Chris Norris share her take on the world of academia at a freshmen honor's program lecture. She seemed vibrant, intellectual, and fun. So I decided to take Chamberlain's Humanities 1, for which Chris was a T.A. I was never one to organize or work on "drafts". Chris made me! Throughout my years at UCSD and law school, Chris has been the only T.A / Professor who has been able to have me submit drafts to be corrected and improved before the due date for the paper. I thought of her as a tyrant at times when she gave me these "draft deadlines", but I needed someone like her to make me think and outline before starting to write. Even putting academia aside, Chris was someone who was easy to talk to. Her passion for life, literature and teaching was admirable, as was her compassion and sense of humanity. She made the otherwise insignificant freshmen feel like their views were something worth sharing, worth discussing, and arguing about. I really enjoyed those minutes of psedo-philosophical discussions we touched upon at the end of our "reviewing the draft" sessions. Maybe it was for those that I even made an effort to complete the drafts. I have always had a great respect for Chris Norris. I am sure she is now resting in a safe, beautiful place with all the muses and literary figures of yore. Chris will always be remembered by those who've had the invaluable opportunity to have her as a guide to the Humanities.

~ Sanjesh Sharma. Revelle College '94.

Chris Norris was an evocative speaker. I sat spell-bound listening to her thought-provoking lectures. Her Humanities lectures made a difference in my life by helping me to see the relationship between human history, human culture, and the position I was in now. Most important, she had a powerful life-long impact on me personally through her encouragement, her positive feedback, her praise. She was the Faculty Advisor for a student organization, Golden Key National Honor Society. She helped us with our fund raiser that brought flowers to the residents of a convalescent home and money to the arts. She was very positive and appreciative of the results we achieved, and I have never forgotten her recognition of the humanitarian achievements we accomplished together. She had a powerful spirit and it gave me strength to work with her.

~ Daniel Osman