Harry Lee Gradman, 1942–2011
For the many of us who knew him, Professor Harry Lee Gradman was synonymous with TESOL, ESL, Language Testing, Studies in Second Language Acquisition (SSLA), and internationalization at Indiana University. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Harry Gradman arrived in Bloomington in 1964 as a graduate student in the Department of English. Fresh from Ohio’s Miami University with a B.A. in History (having graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa), he did not plan to stay long. He ultimately spent 47 years at Indiana University.
Upon earning his master’s degree in English literature in 1966, he moved to the doctoral program in the Department of Linguistics and became a teaching assistant and then lecturer toward the end of his work toward his 1970 Ph.D. in Linguistics. During this period he also earned the graduate Certificate in Applied Linguistics. When Bernard Spolsky offered him a teaching assistantship in the Department of Linguistics’ English as a Second Language Program in 1966, he began what was to be a lifelong connection with the international community.
Harry accepted a faculty position in the newly formed Urban and Overseas English Programs in the School of Education in 1969. By 1972 he was chair of the department (unheard of these days!). He was subsequently chair of Linguistics, then the Program and Department TESOL and Applied Linguistics, and from 1976 on he was Director of the Center for English Language Training (CELT) which he established to be a unit devoted solely to the English education of nonnative speakers of English. The Center included the Intensive English Program (IEP) and a support program for matriculated students. Harry retired in May 2006, having established the foundation for the current Department of Second Language Studies.
Harry’s passion was the IEP and international service. In 1996 he was recognized with the prestigious John W. Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs and Studies for his contributions to the international efforts of Indiana University. His research addressed the many issues of language assessment, and he was active in the field of program development and evaluation in the United States and abroad. His publications included his refutation of Contrastive Analysis (Gradman, 1971, Working Papers in Linguistics), the introduction of reduced redundancy noise testing based on his early work with Bernard Spolsky, which came to be known famously as the Indiana Noise Test (Gaies, Gradman, & Spolsky, 1977, TESOL Quarterly), his description of Fatima, a learner who used unanalyzed formulas (Gradman & Hanania, 1977, Language Learning), and an extensive learner background study which showed the most important learning variable is outside (unassigned) reading (Gradman & Hanania, 1991, MLJ). Harry also served for three years on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Committee of Examiners at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey.
Harry Gradman was in effect the co-founder of Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Without his assistance, SSLA, now entering the 34th year of its existence, would not have become what it is today: the premier venue for research on second language acquisition and a journal that ranks in the upper tier of periodicals in the language sciences. Harry served as associate editor of SSLA from its founding in 1978 through the first six volumes. In its first year, the journal appeared in a modest mimeographed 8½ x 11″ format and was distributed by the IU Linguistics Club to a narrow readership. Harry managed to “divert” some ESL funds so that, for the next five volumes, SSLA gained its independence. Produced by the IU printing services and appearing in proper right-justified professional form with its distinctive red cover, it reached a much wider audience. It caught the eye of the Cambridge University Press editors and, beginning with the seventh volume in 1985, rapidly gained a wide international readership. Harry was too unassuming to claim the important role he had played in the birth of SSLA, but had he not provided the crucial early editorial assistance and critical financial support, SSLA would have never made it off the precarious beach. It is only fitting that this issue of SSLA be dedicated to his memory.
Harry’s service to local communities is reflected in his early presidency of Hospice of Bloomington, his volunteer efforts at Methodist Hospital Hospice in Indianapolis, his longtime tenure as a driver for Bloomington Meals on Wheels, and his many years as director and treasurer of the Indiana Railway Museum, where he served as a conductor on the French Lick, West Baden, and Southern Railway System in Orange and Dubois counties. He also served as director and treasurer of the freight Dubois County Railroad. He became an adventurous traveler, first as a recruiter for the IEP, and later for enjoyment.
Harry’s legacy at Indiana University is a legacy of service, teaching, development of an international community of students, and, fortunately for all of us, the vision to help create and then support SSLA in its early days. He also leaves us the legacy of having enjoyed his life, a valuable lesson for us all.
