Dr. Steven Gross was an Associate Professor of Linguistics in the English department, where began in the fall of 2001.?A Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, he taught a variety of linguistics courses, along with European and American literature surveys.?

His research interests included the structural outcomes of language contact situations and what they can tell us about universal aspects of language production and current theories of syntax, morphology, phonology and language change.

I first met Steven during New Faculty Orientation in 2001. A mutual friend-of-a-friend from South Carolina told me to look for the guy who looked like Mick Jagger. I recognized Steven right away, and we became immediate friends.

We were also lucky enough to get offices right next to one another on the third floor of Burleson Hall. Over the next seven years, our Chair, Judy Slagle, offered me a number of other offices: one was bigger, one had more light, one was on the first floor.

But each time I considered moving I thought about how lucky I was to be situated next to Steven: one of the kindest, generous, most dedicated professors I’ve even known.

So Steven, wherever you’re working now, please keep the office next door open for me.

– Dr. Robert Sawyer

Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator

English Department

We were good friends. The friendship goes back to 2006 when I came to ETSU as an exchange scholar, and he is preparing for a trip to China to teach in my University. The photo taken in the ETSU library is still painted on the wall of the administration building.

After I returned to China, we were colleagues. Many teachers told me about their impression of Steven. He was a knowledgeable professor with a strong dedication to his profession. He carried ETSU pride to China, as you can see on the shirt he wore.

He was humorous, with a very nice personality. So during his one-semester stay there, he contributed greatly to training the teachers and the students, and building up the good relationship between ETSU and Shandong University at Weihai.

He was very much respected by the faculty and his students there. Here are three pictures taken in China that can help us to remember him. Two were taken in front of the Foreign Experts Apartment Building where he lived, and the third one taken in my house with my family.

Dr.Steven Gross will always be our hearts.

– Zhang Dianyu

Shandong University

Weihai China


A word I used frequently to describe him as I highly recommended this professor to fellow students. I can still remember the first few weeks of class spent calculating, gauging and reading him – thoroughly analyzing his actions, in an attempt to determine the course of my semester and how I might procure the desired grade which he alone held the power to bestow.
His eyes were sharp and intelligent and very often quite thoughtful. When asked a question, they would squint and gaze off into the distance.
He would place one hand inverted on the small of his back, the other grazing the frenzy of graying hair that constantly refused reform.
Once the hand was removed from his head a rebellious tuft of the graying mass would stand erect like hungry flowers straining towards the sun.
All the while, his lips would be pursed in a misleading smile likened to that of the Grinch, withholding all malice or mischief of course, seeming to stretch as far as possible towards his ears, carrying with them the suggestion that they too, were poised in thought.
Finally, with well guided words he would deliver a thorough and complete answer including not only the topic in question but the history and logic that produced and determined it.
Never have I enjoyed an English class more; in awe, I discovered the beauty of language and words. Being an English major I took two of his courses offered that semester without ever having had a class taught by him before.
My fellow students know this is a heavy risk to take when creating your schedule, for an unbearable professor is bad enough for three credit hours, but six – that is nearly insufferable.
I discovered with great joy that these six hours would be spent employing a greater portion of my brain, while still maximizing my enjoyment in doing so.
It was not the linguistics with its delightful topics of morphology, phonology and syntax which so intrigued me, that I remember now, nor was it dialectology with its many fascinating discoveries and research, but the professor behind these subjects that made them come alive and remain so vivid in my memory.
I recall looking forward many days to classes and not at all begrudging the three-hour night class that sometimes pulled heavily at my sleep-deprived eyelids – and, it was in this class that this professor procured my highest respect.
This being his first attempt at teaching Dialectology, his fervor and zeal for teaching were matched only by his excitement for us to discover all the new information for ourselves – through a few lengthy, very in-depth assignments.
One of the assignments required us to interview two different people from this region of Appalachia and to transcribe our one to two hour chats. From there we were to identify various linguistic features that were common only to those living in this region.
This assignment is easier to state than to execute, but I am grateful now for it if only to learn the quality of this wonderful man.
After identifying, scheduling and recording my two interviewees with a total of two and a half hours of tape, I rewound it to the beginning in order to begin my transcriptions.
It was then that I discovered, to my horror, only white noise. In alarm I phoned my professor – over the weekend – and he, hearing the urgency and dismay in my voice, agreed to come to the college, on a Sunday, to see what he could do.
After rewinding, playing, tweaking and twisting the old recorder it was his eyes that told me first, the simple truth softened with sympathy . I would have to do the interviews all over again.
It was not one of my better days; however, it was through this event that I saw the caring and considerate aspects in addition to the witty, intelligent traits of my professor.
He was not disparaging in any way, but did require, without exception, that the work be done. However, the error seemed somehow ok in lieu of the fact that my professor cared.
He cared enough to give his students his phone number, and to come in on his time off on a Sunday, to the aid of only one.
To him, students mattered. There have not been many times in my college career that I can say that I genuinely felt cared for, but this was a time, and this was the man.
It is with sadness that I type these words, my heart breaking for those near to Dr. Gross, both friends and family. It is to you that I make this tribute.
Dr. Gross taught me that it is not the subject matter of the courses that you take in college that matter and impact your life; it’s the subjects that matter.
Dr. Gross was a professor that took time not only for his job, but for his students.
He showed me how much I mattered and now I pause to remember him and how much he and his life mattered – he chose not only to teach, but to make a difference.
My only regret now is that I never fully voiced my appreciation to him; he will never know what his kindness meant to me, but I desire that his close friends and family do.
His death has left this college devoid a great man, an intellectual mind and a compassionate heart – ETSU has truly lost one of its greatest.
-Nicki Webb
Senior, English major

Dr. Gross’s office is next to mine on the third floor of Burleson hall.?
I was always glad to see him in the halls, and we would often take time to chat, in either his office or mine.?
He was a very calming influence. He never got bent out of shape about anything.? I always felt calmer and more clear-headed after talking with him.
?Steven and I used to enjoy watching professional baseball on television.
He was a Chicago Cubs fan.? I’m a Cleveland Indians fan.? So every September since 2003, when the regular season was drawing to a close, we would make it a point to get together for some games.? ?
Steven also enjoyed attending the poetry nights at the Acoustic Coffeehouse.?He was not at all snobbish about poetry.?
If someone had something heartfelt to say, he wanted to hear it, regardless of whether or not the poetry was technically accomplished.? He liked listening to the sound of peoples’ voices.
He was a good man, and I will miss him very much.? ?
-Dr. Kevin O’Donnell
Professor of English

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