I have been at UM for 11 years now, and I am always drawn to the names on our buildings. Who were these people? What was their relationship with UM? What were their lives like? We are a new school, so which ones are still alive? For those who aren't, who remembers them and could tell me (us?) about them?
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/namesofum and watch the short video (no sound) of a few of the names that I have captured on pictures. This represents a very small fraction of the names of UM.
Done? Great. Then here is my idea.
I would love to see a class project to document some of these people. I would guess that there are enough names that the project could continue for a number of years. I don't see this as being appropriate to all disciplines, but there are a lot that could participate: composition, public relations, journalism, marketing, sociology, psychology, history, and education all come to mind. Each might have a different context, but all would be valuable. Perhaps it could be a interdisciplinary activity.
I did some brief research, and found a Word document, produced by Advancement, that lists very (VERY) short bios for the people with buildings named for them. You can find it with the http://www.miami.edu/advancement/NamedBuildingsGables.doc web link. In some cases that information consists of a sentence or two. So much more could be said about each of these people.
I think this is interesting and important information that could serve as an excellent learning activity for our students. Any reactions?
Bill Vilberg
bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>
786-250-2255
