Thursday, October 13, 2011

Instructor "disappears"

     [For a more recent update: go here.]
     I just noticed an article in yesterday’s Mission Viejo Patch about Saddleback College composition instructor Amy Ahearn:

Mental Breakdown Suspected in English Prof's Disappearance: Lake Forest resident Amy Ahearn has not been seen since September.

     Extreme weight loss and other strange behaviors reportedly preceded the sudden disappearance of Saddleback College instructor Amy Ahearn this summer.
. . .
     She was reportedly last sighted in Norwalk, CA in September.
     On the Saddleback College website, Ahearn is listed as an English composition instructor. [Elsewhere on the site, she’s listed as “on leave.”]
     Ahearn has been missing from her Lake Forest home since Aug. 22, the day the fall semester began at Saddleback.
. . .
     The website Rate My Professor has 77 reviews for her teaching, the most recent from Aug. 16. ¶ Postings about her teaching style were generally positive until 2008, when students begin to mention her aversion to students coming within 3 feet of her.
     Members of her family believe she might be suffering from a delusional disorder or the symptoms of Huntington's disease.
. . .
     Ahearn's family is asking anyone who has information on her whereabouts to contact the OC Sheriff's Department at 949-770-6011.
     Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Ahearn's disappearance is not considered suspicious and she isn't thought to be in any danger….

IN THE NEWS:

• Florida Governor Attacked Field His Daughter Studied (Inside Higher Ed)
     Many anthropologists remain furious at Governor Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, for saying this week that his state doesn't need more graduates in anthropology. Now the Associated Press reports that the governor's daughter, Jordan Kandah, has an anthropology degree from the College of William & Mary. Kandah's career path backs the view of anthropologists that their discipline can be preparation for a variety of fields. She was formerly a special education teacher and recently enrolled in an M.B.A. program.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very sad.

Anonymous said...

These cases are heartbreaking because someone who falls ill like this is more often ostracized rather than treated.

We need to be more responsible for each other somehow.

Anonymous said...

It's often easier for people not to do anything. They don't recognize the serious nature of what is happening and instead simply get frustrated, irritated. Often the warning signs have been developing all along.

I agree, very sad.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...