Dr. Emperor joined the faculty of the Department of English in 1929 and took charge of the program in public speaking. He taught the first graduate course in eighteenth-century English literature in 1941. In 1944, upon the occasion of the sesquicentennial of the founding of the institution, he composed the official institutional ode in its recognition. He developed the one-year course in comparative literature. He was a dynamic, even flamboyant, person and a lively and popular classroom teacher. He was also an investor in the stock market. When he died suddenly in 1945, the English Department received from his estate its first endowment, which was $27,000.