Grand Valley mourns death of faculty member

Grand Valley State University mourns the death of Mary Easter, an affiliate professor of writing who was 63.
 
Faculty in the Department of Writing covered her classes and is offering additional help to her students as they complete final projects for the semester. The university's Counseling Center is working with the writing department to provide grief counseling to students, faculty and staff. Drop-in hours at the center, in 204 Student Services, are also available Monday-Friday, from 10 a.m.-noon and 3-4 p.m.
 
Department of Writing Chair Dan Royer said Easter worked as an adjunct professor for many years before joining the writing faculty as a full-time affiliate professor in 2006. "Mary smiled a lot and had a nice, sharp sense of humor. She was very dependable, a hard-working teacher, a reliable respondent to her students' writing, and a reflective teacher," he said. "Mary had a lot of friends in our department. We are all very sad and will miss her a lot."