School Pride

I have been fortunate to have been part of 4 (maybe 5) colleges on the UA campus: Fulbright (as a faculty wife), AFLS and Honors--and even Architecture (as a student), and now the Law School (as an employee). The UA campus is not unlike Italy's city-states (now come on, you had to expect me to make some reference to Italy, right). Each college has a unique atmosphere and it's own population even though we're all Razorbacks. Students attending the job fair in architecture and design dress differently from those being interviewed on campus by law firms.

As in all organizations with which I've been affiliated, I noticed the you-me difference during my first week of work. "How do you do this or that here." Over time, the you became a we. "How do we do this." My tenure at the School of Law has been a brief one, about 2 months long. However, Friday's events made me swell with pride even though I'm not a matriculated student and tomorrow will be my last day.

Friday was the dedication of the new addition to the Law School. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the guest of honor. Although I didn't get to meet her, I was able to watch her give her address from the balcony above the east entrance to the Union. She spoke about the Law School's 6 pioneers, men whose portraits line the walls of a glassed-in conference within sight of the atrium. I never knew about the balcony or the history of these men until Friday. It made me proud to be a member of the School of Law in the presence of this woman. Following the ribbon-cutting, we proceeded to the atrium and the new courtyard. The designer in me appreciated how well the spaces worked for the visitors. Both spaces are gracious in their proportions and flexible in their configurations. On two occasions I have designated the seating arrangement in the atrium. While it is not surprising that students had executed their own floor-plan by the end of the day, I noticed that the same phenomenon occurred with our special visitors on Friday.

My contribution to the Law School space is minimal. I have designed directories throughout the building. Signage is often overlooked until it is needed at crucial decision-making nodes. However, I'm very proud to have contributed to the design, if only in a small way. Moreover, I'm tickled that individuals from the Dean to the Director of Communications to the folks down the hall have asked for signs that bear the branded parchment background that I created for the directories. Like the pioneers, my legacy has made its mark on the walls of the School. It's a small legacy, but it's mine and I'm very proud of it.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the Law School. I have learned a lot about design from my brief stay. I am encouraged to see that people, when presented with design opportunities, choose design. Most of all, I have had the pleasure of working with a wonderfully supportive supervisor and friend, Rhonda Adams, and her assistant, Mary Harrington, and our new protege', Joseph. Everyone in the School of Law has been very gracious to me, as well. I am going to miss my friends, old and new, the proximity to my Architecture I class and to my son, Billy who's taking that class for credit, the chance to have lunch with my husband, my very own office (for the first time in my life), and the pleasure of walking in and out the atrium and up and down the grand staircase. And while I'm a little melancholy that it will be my last day of work, I'm very proud of having had an opportunity to work for the School of Law. I will leave the building without a J.D. but not without a sense of ownership and school pride.