Nancy Ellen Talburt, professor emeritus of English at the University of Arkansas, passed away on March 22. She was 87 years old.
Over the course of her long tenure with the University of Arkansas, Dr. Talburt served in several academic and administrative roles. Her career began in 1969 as a professor in the English department, where she taught and developed courses on popular literature, linguistics, novels, world literature, and mystery and detective fiction. She had stints as associate director of libraries, director of records, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, and vice provost for academic affairs. She also led the university’s accreditation review on three separate occasions before retiring in 2010.
As a scholar of mystery fiction, she contributed to several professional writing textbooks, including The Guide to Great Women Mystery Writers. For her contributions to her field, she was awarded the George N. Dove Award from the Mystery and Detective Fiction Caucus of the Popular Culture Association. Outside of the University of Arkansas, Dr. Talburt was a prolific contributor to the academic community at large, serving as president of Phi Beta Kappa and of the American Association of University Professors.
A native of Orange, California, Dr. Talburt was a graduate of Arkansas State University, where she majored in biology with a minor in mathematics. She earned her master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Arkansas. After completing her graduate education, she was a postdoctoral scholar in linguistics and English literature at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
I became acquainted with Dr. Talburt through our work together with the Higher Learning Commission. She was always a person you wanted to work with, because she was organized, efficient, kind, professional, focused, classy, and fun! I have many fond memories of her and was saddened to read this notice.
I couldn’t agree more with the adjectives used by Roberta to describe Nancy. Each one of them were words I could associate with the experiences I had over the years with her. I especially enjoyed having the gatherings at her home after the long months of work on committees that she chaired. Additionally, I always appreciated the assistance she provided in enabling me to get grants from the University. She was, indeed, so very kind, effective, and efficient—-and truly fun to be around.