Kenneth A. Christiansen

This moment with Professor Christiansen was the first time I met him, and the moment I decided to become a documentary artist. He was a magical person, and it was a magical moment -- a moment when time stood still, and everything in the world made sense. I think about him often

I ran into Ken years after my time in Grinnell, in Oahu on the North Shore, sometime in the early 80's. He was driving a jeep, exploring the island. But what he was really excited about was that he was headed to Kauai the next day to "the wettest forest on Earth." He was all but chortling over the flora and fauna he would find there. What a wonderful man, so in love with life and living things!

I thank having known professor Kennneth Christiansen.....as others have alreaduy pointed out, he was an enlightner!
Even though I didnt have the vision then to have taken his evolution class, he taught me mid 1980s a very nice extracurricular class on insects which just turned out to be excellent!
Rest in peace.
Francisca

I switched to Doc C's class for the second semester of Biology in the Spring of 1959 like many others. The class was crowded and very good, and he coped. His 12 kings of Israel mark on some students' essays has been a favorite of mine life long. A note on the bulletin board said "Caving anyone?" and I signed on. We camped in a cow pasture, and Doc C served us up fried puff balls with our steak. The next morning he climbed out of his sleeping bag, stretched, and said, "Ah, the mushroom...

Deepest sympathy to Ken's family! I always enjoyed seeing him around campus while I worked at the Dean's Office! Rest in well deserved peace, Ken!!

I hold so dear my memories of Dr. Christiansen who gave me the opportunity to stay in Grinnell for the summers of the late 1970s: drawing pictures of Collembola, listening to Judy Collins (accompanied by Ken) singing "Send in The Clowns" on the old record player in his lab, feeding yeast to his collection of giant Panamanian roaches down in the dank basement of the biology building, eating exotic dinners followed by tiny cups of thick Turkish coffee at his beautiful home with the lovely...

I second and third all the comments already written and share the sentiments. Dr. Christiansen was a brilliant and inspiring lecturer, an exemplar of the scholarly scientist, a fascinating person with a lively interest in cooking, music, politics, and more, and a one of a kind character. I worked for him during the summer of 1974 helping check his taxonomies of collembola, and enjoyed the lab camaraderie, tea made in a bunsen burner, background music chosen by Dr. Christiansen (alternating...

I was a freshman student at Grinnell College in 1955 when Professor Christiansen was a freshman professor at Grinnell College in 1955. It was my privilege to be in his biology class my first semester at Grinnell.

Very soon after my first few classes from Professor Christiansen, he asked if any one cared to help collect Collembolan in caves. About three of us agreed, and for me, the rest became history. He and I went caving and collecting many times during my four years and became...

Professor Christiansen was one my favorite and most influential teachers at Grinnell. He had a wonderful sense of humor (witness handing out an evolution-themed issue of National Lampoon to his class) and an inspiring teacher. We students would spend evenings at his home in earnest discussion about evolution and how Darwin came to understand it. 40+ years have passed and I still remember him vividly.