To: Faculty, Staff, and Students
From: President Ashish Vaidya
Date: 04/15/22
Subject: Sad News
Dear Campus Community:
With a heavy heart, I share news of the passing of Dr. Bill McKim last week. Bill was faculty emeritus, a former chair of the Department of English and one of our longest-serving educators. He began his teaching career when NKU was known as Northern Kentucky State College.
Bill is remembered by colleagues as a friend and a kind and considerate person, a devoted teacher and a Shakespeare scholar. He was a native of West Virginia and came to NKU in 1972 after earning his Ph.D. at Harvard. He retired in 2002 after 30 years of service to this university and its students. He was also an avid sports fan and supporter of the Norse.
Professor Bob Wallace noted Bill was “a loyal and inspiring colleague; a generous and imaginative department chair; and a brilliant scholar of Shakespeare who inspired decade after decade of NKU students to become lifelong learners. In these ways, and in many others, he embodied the best of what our department has become.”
Losing a member of our campus community impacts each of us, so please remember it is always OK to ask for the help you need. University Wellness provides the Employee Assistance Program through Aetna and offers online resources and counselors available anytime.
Bill’s passing will be felt across the university and especially in the Department of English. My sympathies go out to his wife Karen and the McKim family, as well as the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the department and to his colleagues across NKU. Bill will be missed and warmly remembered.
Services will be held on April 30 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church at 326 Madison Avenue in Covington, Kentucky. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Bill’s memory to Episcopal Relief and Development-Ukraine Crisis Response or Matthew 25 Ministries-Aid to Ukrainian Refugees, or a charity of your choice.
Sincerely,
Ashish Vaidya
