A student entering professor Deborah Organ’s office might notice the bright tapestry on the wall embellished with images of animals, stars and greenery.
But without asking, the student wouldn’t know the handmade Tzotsil Mayan artwork was a token of Organ’s 20 visits to San Cristóbal de las Casas in Southern Mexico.
“When I asked the woman how long it had taken her to make it, she said a couple of months,” Organ said. “Even the green grounding for it is hand-spun from sheep wool from the region… For a while I had an office that didn’t have a window, and that was my window.”
Although students might know their professors’ alma maters and subsequent degrees, limited classroom interactions obscure the scope of their instructors’ accomplishments, which often include world travels, awards and academic projects.
The artifacts in faculty members’ offices, however, hint at some of those stories.
Professor Kimberly Vrudny placed a series of three canvases depicting biblical scenes behind the Bible she bought when she was a student studying abroad in Israel. The canvases, which were made by a Monk from St. John’s Abbey, were a gift from a former student.
While Vrudny’s Bible symbolizes her own study abroad experience, many professors like Amy Muse bring back souvenirs from teaching abroad. Muse, who often teaches in Greece, displays authentic Santorinian baubles and classic tourist finds among her stuffed animals and Shakespeare collectibles.
“(This print) is from Santorini,” Muse said. “The study abroad office had a photo contest from students’ travels, and then they made them into all these big canvases and gave them to faculty connected to those places.”
The trinkets that adorn Muse’s space are replaced by gadgets for some engineering professors. Professor Michael Hennessey has a jet engine turbine blade, a steam engine and a Hoberman sphere, some of which he uses not only as office decor, but as teaching tools.
“This is a steam engine. I actually took this to Peru,” Hennessey said. “I wanted students to understand what a steam engine is, and this is one.”
Professor Stephen Laumakis’ desk was in disarray after moving offices, but student gifts from studying abroad in Hawaii and many other artifacts had been unboxed. Before an entering student could see the stacks of papers, though, they would be greeted by a startling face at the office entrance.
Laumakis stepped back to demonstrate students’ shock when they first see his large poster, pictured in the photo slideshow above, of Bodhidharma, the monk who brought Buddhism from India to China.
“If you stand back here and you’re coming in, ‘Holy cow,’” Laumakis said. “That’s what we’re looking at.”
Although professors may not tell these stories outright, they’re worth hearing if students take a moment to ask.
Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.
Maddy Herman can be reached at maddy.herman@stthomas.edu.