In memoriam: Dwan Shipley

Dwan Shipley, an instructor for the Linguistics Program at Western Washington University, passed away on Friday, Feb. 12, at his home. A memorial service/celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. at Dakota Creek Christian Center in Blaine on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

Dwan taught at Western since 1997. He received his BA from the University of South Carolina, Columbia; his MA in linguistics from the University of Colorado and his MAT in French from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics from Simon Fraser University. His research and teaching interested included Salish languages, endangered languages, sociolinguistics, dialectology and toponyms. He was an active member of the American Name Society.

Shipley became a senior instructor in Linguistics in 2009 and consistently taught the large linguistics lecture classes, Introduction to Linguistics and Sociolinguistics, regularly teaching more than 1,000 students a year. He greatly enjoyed his students and his classes and will be sorely missed by his colleagues.

The Linguistics Program at WWU has established a scholarship to honor and acknowledge Dwan Shipley’s contributions to the Linguistics Program and his dedication to our students.  If you wish to contribute, please do so.

Gifts in memory of Dwan can be made:

  • online at www.wwu.edu/give (please type Dwan Shipley Memorial Scholarship into the gift designation box);
  • checks can be made payable to the WWU Foundation with Dwan Shipley Memorial Scholarship written on the memo line of the check.  They can be mailed to: WWU Foundation, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225-9034;
  • or, via payroll deduction.

Cards may be sent to his wife, Nita Shipley, at:

P.O. Box 3043
Blaine, WA 98231