Deborah Ann Carmichael

Deb Carmichael— a thoughtful and caring professor in MSU’s writing department— passed away on June 22, 2016, after a brief illness. A good listener and friend, she always had patience and a smile for her MSU colleagues and students.

Originally born on an Illinois farm, Deb and her family moved to Florida for health reasons. Eventually, she moved to New York City, where she was a fashion merchandiser, and then to Oklahoma, where she received her Masters and then Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Studying nineteenth-century American literature, film, and popular culture, Deb researched Oklahoma film circuits as small-town cultural centers. As an MSU professor, Deb published scholarly articles, did textbook editing, and gave numerous conference presentations on TV, movies, and popular culture at the regional, national, and international levels. She held editorial positions with both The Journal of Popular Culture, and Film and History, and she chaired the Sixties section of the Popular Culture Association. An advocate for her colleagues, she was recently elected as president of the Union of Non-Tenured Faculty at MSU. Deb also traveled widely: to Australia (as an invited conference speaker), and to Europe and the Middle East.

About a year ago, Deb was grieved when her long-time, beloved partner Michael Baldwin succumbed to heart disease.

Deb was much loved, and she loved in return. She will be sorely missed. Her MSU colleagues and friends will greatly miss her smile, her laughter, her patience, her listening to others, and her sharing of thoughts and ideas from a place of integrity and knowledge.

Her MSU friends are arranging a small, informal memorial, and working to establish a teaching award in her name.

You can learn more about Deb’s story on caringbridge.org/visit/debcarmichael2.