You can learn a lot about a professor by visiting his or her office. For instance, there’s Professor Gerald L. Alexanderson, pictured at right. The Valeriote Professor of Science in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, he has been teaching at SCU since 1958. Last spring he and nine other professors posed for student Midori Shibuya ’12 as part of a project she undertook for her black-and white photography class with David Pace.
After making prints, Shibuya returned to the professors’ offices and asked them to write below their pictures why they chose their fields and what they love about teaching. In Alexanderson’s case, within the frame was a snapshot of his late dog, Chyna, who used to travel with him everywhere—even to conferences. (The pooch, he notes, was “named for—but misspelled—for someone in rock music, Chynna Phillips, though neither named, nor misspelled, by me!”)
Shibuya found that Professor of English Diane Dreher, above, created a comfortable, homelike atmosphere in her office in St. Joseph’s Hall. “I want to make my students feel welcome,” Dreher explained. “The least I can do is create a homey office with plants, teapots, and cushions, so that the students don’t feel too bad when I am tearing apart their essays.”