Obituary: Kathy Shaughnessy Jambeck

Kathy Shaughnessy Jambeck, 55, of Storrs, former adjunct professor and Connecticut Writing Project/Storrs director, died Tuesday, January 31, 2012 surrounded by her family and with her beloved husband and son by her side.

She was born July 6, 1956, in Norwalk, Conn., the daughter of John R Shaughnessy Sr. and the late Anne Straniti Shaughnessy. Passionate about medieval literature, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Keene State College in 1978 and a master’s degree in medieval literature from the University of Connecticut in 1982. Specializing in twelfth through fourteenth-century English and French Romance Literature and Theology, she defended her doctoral dissertation, Sir Orfeo: A Study in Interpretive Contexts and Twelfth-Century French Generic Conventions, in 1998 to the hurrahs of David Benson, her major advisor, and Charles Owen, founder of UConn’s medieval studies program. She was adjunct professor of English at UConn from 1998 to 2003 and served as director of the Connecticut Writing Project at Storrs from 2003 to 2006. Her published work includes a review of Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction by Derek Pearsall in Modern Language Review/Yearbook of English Studies, and “Conditions of Adjunct Faculty Employment in Higher Education,” with Ruth Fairbanks in Vanguard: Connecticut Conference American Association of University Professors.

She is survived by her husband, Thomas J. Jambeck, and her son, Mark David Jambeck, both of Storrs; her father, John R. Shaughnessy Sr. of Norwalk; her sister, Marianne Shaughnessy of Athens, VT; her brother, John R. Shaughnessy Jr. of Beacon Falls; many nieces and nephews, cousins, an aunt, and friends.

Calling hours are Today from 5 to 8 p.m. at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson St., Rte. 195 Willimantic.

A liturgy will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at in Storrs. Burial will follow in Storrs Cemetery.

Flowers may be sent or donations made to cancer research.