Exploring university enlightens

Originally published in The News-Star newspaper, December 3, 2006

Long ago one of my mentors at Purdue University, Dr. Merle Cunningham, taught me a powerful principle wandering. He would sometimes take his lunch hour or some other time in the day to wander on the campus and go into buildings other than his own, just to see what he could see. Or maybe he was just thinking. Sometimes I wondered about the usefulness and efficiency of wandering if it were maybe just a way to avoid work. However, it must have helped him as he was acknowledged twice nationally for excellence in teaching. He always said it was good to wander and also to leave the sidewalk and sometimes walk on the grass.

I was not sure about wandering at the University of Louisiana - Monroe, but I thought I would see if it were possible on our campus. So I took part of a morning and wandered, primarily in search of portraits.

I started in Stubbs Hall and looked at the distinguished portrait of Francis Peter Stubbs (1830-1908) and then walked over to the library (the 1939 one), now Bry Hall. Here stands a portrait of Judge Henry Bry - painted by Herbert Moffett from an original by Vaudechamp and presented to the university in 1968 by Bry's grandchildren, Marguerite Layton Morris and Robert Layton.

A trip to T.O. Brown Hall yielded no portraits but did provide a good look at the beautiful green terrazzo in the stairwells as well as the security glass in the windows that look out to the north where the football field stood. From Brown Hall I wandered to the office of admissions in Sandel Hall and admired the portrait of Percy Sandel, champion of the founding of Ouachita Parish Junior College. He died in 1932 and thus did not live to see the first graduating class.

The next part of my wander took me to the ULM library and up to special collections on the fifth floor. No portraits here, but there is the large photograph of James A. Noe standing over Governor O.K. Allen as he signs the bill making OPJC part of LSU. Although there are no portraits on the fifth floor there are photos. ULM is proud to host an exhibit known as "Beyond the Postcard," six decades of pictures of Lee Estes. If you follow this path of wandering, you will simply have to stop for awhile in awe at this display of astounding photographs.

There are so many paths to wander at ULM, preferably with others on the path with you. So, take some time and wander during part of a day and see what you can see, think some about things, and learn more about our university.

Dr. John Knesel, ULM Professor