{"686133":{"#nid":"686133","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Remembering Robert Wood and His Half Century of Service to Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor Robert Wood always dressed up for the first day of class. It was, his colleagues say, his way of showing his respect for the students who came to him to learn about classical literature and film.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis dedication to students even extended to learning Italian so that he could better teach a class called \u201cThe Age of Galileo.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor ten \u2018generations\u2019 of Tech students, Bob brought news of Dante and DaVinci and Galileo and Shakespeare and exposed them to the masterworks of classical Hollywood,\u201d said LMC Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t\u0026amp;rct=j\u0026amp;q=\u0026amp;esrc=s\u0026amp;source=web\u0026amp;cd=\u0026amp;cad=rja\u0026amp;uact=8\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwjxrJmjrdaQAxWZGtAFHcUVG9oQFnoECAsQAQ\u0026amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fiac.gatech.edu%2Fpeople%2Fperson%2F27382066-1009-5fee-a226-3aa9ed46f823\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw1PEJ-4vyz4-9C-iOtPsjTu\u0026amp;opi=89978449\u0022\u003EBlake Leland\u003C\/a\u003E, who worked with Wood for nearly four decades.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWood, a poet and scholar who retired as an associate professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) in May 2025 after 50 years of service with Georgia Tech, passed away recently.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe will be missed,\u201d Leland said. \u201cI will miss him.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWood, who had a Ph.D. in English and a master\u2019s degree in mathematics, arrived at Georgia Tech in 1974 after two years as a math instructor at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA poet and specialist in Renaissance drama, the science and culture of the renaissance, and film and television, he was the author of books including \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www1.bucknell.edu\/script\/upress\/book.asp?id=2311\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESome Necessary Questions of the Play: A Stage-Centered Analysis of Shakespeare\u0027s \u0027Hamlet\u2019\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Ethe 2014 Georgia Author of the Year award-winning book of poetry, \u003Cem\u003EThe Awkward Poses of Others;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.finishinglinepress.com\/product\/alms-for-oblivion-by-robert-e-wood\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAlms for Oblivion\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and a chapbook \u2014 a short book of poetry \u2014 called \u003Cem\u003EGorizia Notebook.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis poems were published in outlets including \u003Cem\u003EBlue Fifth Review, Jelly Bucket, Jabberwock Review, Sojourn,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Eand\u003Cem\u003E Prairie Schooner.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt Georgia Tech, he taught classes ranging from English Composition to Shakespeare to Intro to Film to Theater Production. He also helped establish LMC\u2019s Film Studies program, recalled his retired colleague, Professor Emeritus \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t\u0026amp;rct=j\u0026amp;q=\u0026amp;esrc=s\u0026amp;source=web\u0026amp;cd=\u0026amp;cad=rja\u0026amp;uact=8\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwiFy4-brtaQAxXl5ckDHR_gMNcQFnoECCIQAQ\u0026amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fiac.gatech.edu%2Fpeople%2Fperson%2Fe228f90e-a028-5666-9e00-8e0f8e519773\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw1u8ZqPp_7jctcit5HxDx8T\u0026amp;opi=89978449\u0022\u003EJay Telotte\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two spent many hours together, lugging heavy projection equipment to other buildings with enough space for film screenings, Telotte said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd when, as often happened, we encountered technical problems \u2014 a sound system not working, a screen that wouldn\u2019t go down, a projector bulb suddenly blown, or even an auditorium or projection booth that was locked when it wasn\u2019t supposed to be \u2014 Bob would typically entertain the student audience with his wealth of jokes while I went looking for help,\u201d Telotte said. \u201cMy sense, and probably that of many students as well, is that his other calling was neither drama nor poetry, but stand-up comedy, at which he was very good.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor years, Wood and other LMC faculty members met regularly as a writing group they called the \u201cNot Dead Yet Poets Society.\u201d Some members collaborated on a book of poetry, \u003Cem\u003EOn Occasion: Four Poets, One Year.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe was a generous and thoughtful reader of poetry and often found just the right word needed to turn a poem on its head,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t\u0026amp;rct=j\u0026amp;q=\u0026amp;esrc=s\u0026amp;source=web\u0026amp;cd=\u0026amp;cad=rja\u0026amp;uact=8\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwjR1OejrtaQAxUu78kDHYfOIVoQFnoECAsQAQ\u0026amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Flmc.gatech.edu%2Fpeople%2Fperson%2Fjc-reilly\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw29MniaisuVZlg-LxDFUd97\u0026amp;opi=89978449\u0022\u003EJC Reilly\u003C\/a\u003E, director of creative writing curricula in LMC. \u201cHe was kind and funny in a quiet, snarky way, and he made me \u2014 all of us \u2014 a better writer. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETravis Denton, associate director of Poetry@Tech, called Wood \u201ca staple in the Atlanta poetry community.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt Bob made a huge impact on his many students over the years, sharing his love of poetry, and he served as a force and advocate for the craft in the School,\u201d \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/travis-denton\u0022\u003EDenton \u003C\/a\u003Esaid.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWood was one of the first faculty members Professor Carol Senf met when she joined the faculty in what was then Georgia Tech\u2019s English Department.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBob never failed to charm and delight though his wit was sometimes so subtle that it snuck up on me,\u201d Senf said. \u201cAppropriately for a Shakespearean, he was a true Renaissance man. A teacher who genuinely loved his students, he was also a very fine poet, and a connoisseur of art, music, and film.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t\u0026amp;rct=j\u0026amp;q=\u0026amp;esrc=s\u0026amp;source=web\u0026amp;cd=\u0026amp;cad=rja\u0026amp;uact=8\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwj37aO0rtaQAxWT4ckDHSg-M9oQFnoECAsQAQ\u0026amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fiac.gatech.edu%2Fpeople%2Fperson%2Fcarol-senf\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw3DFTpVPehfQZ48Eru9b9VU\u0026amp;opi=89978449\u0022\u003ESenf\u003C\/a\u003E said Wood adored his family, evident in a series of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/peacockjournal.com\/robert-e-wood-thora-and-the-philosophers-the-early-years\/\u0022\u003Epoems\u003C\/a\u003E inspired by his granddaughter:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENo footprint mars\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003Eher lunar wondering,\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ethe first philosophy.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are terrible beauties as Yeats has shown us, but the beauty of a child\u2019s first exploration of the world renews us all,\u201d Wood \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtvault-my.sharepoint.com\/personal\/mpearson34_gatech_edu\/Documents\/AppData\u0022\u003Ewrote\u003C\/a\u003E in a \u201cWriter\u2019s Statement on Beauty\u201d published with the poems. \u201cMy Thora poems began when I heard a speaker quote Aristotle as saying, \u2018Philosophy begins in wonder.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReilly said she\u2019s grateful Wood left behind such a trove of poetry and other writing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am heartbroken that he\u2019s gone, and I\u2019m really going to miss him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe left us way too soon, but he lives on in his poems, and I keep them close.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobert Wood served Georgia Tech in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication for 50 years.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Robert Wood served Georgia Tech in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication for 50 years."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2025-11-03 15:58:46","changed_gmt":"2025-11-03 18:35:22","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678518":{"id":"678518","type":"image","title":"robert-wood-memorial-image.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ERetired Associate Professor Robert E. Wood passed in October 2025. He retired in May 2025 after 50 years of service to Georgia Tech. (Photo courtesy of the Wood family)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1762187978","gmt_created":"2025-11-03 16:39:38","changed":"1762189188","gmt_changed":"2025-11-03 16:59:48","alt":"\u0022\u0022","file":{"fid":"262567","name":"robert-wood-memorial-image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/03\/robert-wood-memorial-image.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/03\/robert-wood-memorial-image.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":322699,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/03\/robert-wood-memorial-image.jpg?itok=9a9K7Vcq"}}},"media_ids":["678518"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/2gRqfdIf6jw?si=0qbWouS9UHUN_a1i","title":"Watch Robert Wood reading at a Poetry@Tech event in 2011."}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}