The University of North Florida English Department will hold a memorial on Friday, Feb. 28, to celebrate and remember the life of Professor Jason Mauro, a beloved faculty member who died unexpectedly last month. 

The memorial will be held Friday at 11 a.m. inside the UNF Gallery of Art, Building 2, Suite 1001. Mauro spent over 30 years teaching at UNF, during which he cofounded the UNF Thoreau Table and UNF Movies on the House. Some of Mauro’s students and colleagues shared why his impact will never be forgotten.

English Department Chair Dr. Tru Leverette Hall said Mauro was “a positive spirit.” 

“There was a warmth to him, a light,” Leverette Hall said.

On Jan. 10, Mauro told Leverette Hall that he was ready to return to the classroom after working remotely for some time. It came as nothing less than a devastating shock to Leverette Hall, Mauro’s colleagues, friends, students and family when he passed away two weeks later from a heart attack. 

This semester, Mauro was teaching three classes, including his popular Inventing Death course and his Major Authors course, which focused on Robert Frost. 

Yana Royter, a senior English major, is currently enrolled in Mauro’s Robert Frost class and said she vividly remembers all the classes she’s taken with Mauro in the past. Royter said she fondly remembers an activity Mauro introduced to her literature class last year, during which she had to draw a self-portrait to better understand first-person writing. 

“He was always lively,” Royter said. “He was super intelligent and always had a way of opening a discussion that was out of the box.” 

Mauro’s unique and deep teaching style has been a gift to UNF students since 1993. UNF English instructor Michaela Tashjian is a testament to his profound teaching over the years. 

Tashjian met Professor Mauro during her senior year at UNF as an undergraduate when she took his Inventing Death course.

“He was so real in the classroom and he taught me to bring my full self into the classroom even if I’m a wreck that day, and he did the same,” Tashjian said. 

Tashijan said she loved the class so much she decided to come back after graduating to take his course again. She and other students said Mauro’s teaching methods were very “unconventional.”

Whether it was in-class meditations, drawing self-portraits or class visits to human cadaver labs, Tashijan said Mauro’s courses always had an “element of surprise” to them. Now as a professor and colleague of Mauro’s, Tashjian is honored to take on teaching his Inventing Death course this semester. 

“I feel like taking on this class is like one last assignment. Like one last thing that I have to do from him that feels impossible, but I know he believes in me and my ability to do it,” said Tashjian.

Tashjian said although she has “large shoes to fill,” she plans to emulate his teaching methods and kindness in his Inventing Death class and in her other classes. 

“He taught me that we are not just professors and students,” Tashijan said. ”We are human beings and we need to take care of each other.”

Annette Howard is currently enrolled in Mauro’s course on Robert Frost this semester. She took Mauro’s Intro to Literature course her freshman year. She said Mauro emphasized the importance of emotional perspectives in both life and in literature. If Howard struggled on a quiz or an assignment, Mauro offered his help to her and would ask her if everything was okay. 

Howard shared something Mauro taught her in class about how reading poetry out loud is its own type of medium for authors.

“I kind of want to find [Mauro’s] work and read it out loud,” Howard said.

“He really emphasized, ‘This isn’t a lecture. Interrupt me, I want to hear your thoughts,’” said Howard. “It very much felt like a class where the professor was here for students, rather than the students are here for the professor.”

Mauro had a unique talent for captivating his students—even in virtual classes. Even Mauro’s colleagues were impressed with how he took control of a classroom in person or over Zoom.

“He’s able to project that caring sense across Zoom. I don’t know how anybody does that. I couldn’t do it,” said UNF English Professor Keith Cartwright.

Cartwright shared a piece of Mauro’s bright and holistic personality, which was a photo that Mauro sent after he received good news about a recent surgery. In the picture, Mauro held a giant fish on a boat, smiling wide.