By Sarah Mayhew and Adam Hartmann

Arizona Daily Wildcat

During a 1957 Christmas service Billie Jo Inman attended in New Orleans, the minister used a passage by 19th century British essayist and fiction writer Walter Pater.

Inman, a University of Arizona English professor, has been studying and writing about Pater ever since.

ÒI was tremendously impressed by that,Ó said Inman, who plans to retire at the end of this semester.

When she returned to the University of Texas at Austin where she was teaching at the time, Inman read the schoolÕs two library books about Pater. The next year she began her doctorate degree in British literature, writing her dissertation ~jump~

~mid~ on Pater.

This July, Inman, who has taught English, humanities and womenÕs studies courses at the UA for 32 years, will deliver a paper about Pater in Canterbury, England.

Inman, who turned 65 this year, became a full professor in 1972 and was chairwoman of the Faculty Senate during the 1992-93 school year.

J. Douglas Canfield, one of InmanÕs fellow English professors, said he thought she decided to retire because she had reached the end of her distinguished career.

Canfield said InmanÕs retirement would have an effect on the English department.

ÒWhenever anybody retires, especially at her level of professional career, itÕs going to leave a void,Ó Canfield

Faculty Chairman J.D. Garcia said he appreciated InmanÕs work on the Instructional Curriculum Policy Committee, which she served on for the last three years.

ÒDr. Inman has been a valuable member of faculty governance committees,Ó Garcia said. ÒWeÕll miss her.Ó Read Next Article