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May 27, 2008
Eleanor Main’s spirit present on big day

BY Mary Loftus

Commencement was especially meaningful for Eric Wearne, who received his Ph.D. in educational studies on May 12. Although Wearne lost his adviser, Eleanor Main, director of Emory’s Division of Educational Studies, to cancer on Feb. 8, he wore her gown in the ceremony.

“We developed a relationship over my time at the University,” said Wearne, who is director of data analysis in the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement in Atlanta. “She was always kind and generous with her time and energy with me, but I think she was that way with everybody. She also had real, practical knowledge of how things work in government and schools. She passed away right before my [dissertation] defense, but this kind of lets her be there at the very end with me.”

“Dr. Main was encircling him with her presence and her gown,” said Charles Howard Candler Professor of Educational Studies Carole Hahn to the DES faculty and graduate students lined up for the ceremony.