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Lenora ‘Nora’ Timm

A memorial service will begin at noon Thursday (Jan. 26) at Putah Creek Lodge for Professor Emerita Lenora “Nora” Timm, founding chair of the Department of Linguistics and a former associate dean of Graduate Studies.

Timm, who died Nov. 22 at age 73 after a recurring battle with cancer, was an internationally known expert on Breton, an endangered Celtic language of Brittany, France.

Family, friends and colleagues also remembered her as a fearless advocate for �ٺ���Ƶ students, a fair-minded champion of social justice, and an environmentalist who helped preserve thousands of acres of threatened wildlife habitat in California, Wyoming, Nevada and New Mexico.

“She was wonderfully and widely intelligent, engaged in a variety of eclectic interests,” said Carol Wall, former vice chancellor of Student Affairs, who had been both teacher and colleague to Timm. “She was bright and witty, excellent company.”

— Kathleen Holder

Wendell H. Potter

Wendell H. Potter, a physics professor whose passion for teaching led to major reforms in undergraduate science education, died Jan. 8. He was 73.

Potter transformed the way physics was taught at �ٺ���Ƶ, abandoning dry lectures and rote memorization in favor of student-led experiments and discussion. “He was doing active learning before there were even words to describe it,” said Bob Svoboda, chair of the Department of Physics.

With his trademark beard and wide smile, Potter was known for his kindness and generosity with students and colleagues. “What really made Wendell so great at what he did was that he loved learning, and he shared that love with everyone he worked with,” said former graduate student Cassandra Paul, Ph.D. ’12. “It was impossible not to get swept up by the passion and excitement he had for figuring things out,” said Paul, now an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and science education at San Jose State University.

He had received a Distinguished Teaching Award (2005) and a Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award (1996), both from the Davis Division of the Academic Senate. A residence hall in the Tercero complex is named after him.

— Becky Oskin