It’s been nearly three decades since I last set foot on the grounds of the University of Utah. When I graduated in 1993, I left and never looked back. A couple months ago, I stopped in Salt Lake for a week on my annual ski adventures and decided to cut one of my ski days short so that I could pay my alma mater a visit. I was curious how much had changed since I was running around being an idiot. This is what I found …
New buildings and redirected footpaths didn’t stop me from exploring my old stomping ground, but so much had changed in the intervening years that I was searching for touchstones to jog my memories of this place. In some ways, it felt as though I never left.
Big U on quad.
The University of Utah is one of the prettiest campuses in the country and the views from Marriott Library are simply stunning. The dorms I lived in have long since been razed, but my morning commute to the art building was down a long, open walkway with a completely unobstructed view of the Salt Lake Valley. On clear days, you could see across the valley to Kennecott Copper Mine and the Great Salt Lake.
I spent a great many months in bowels of the Marriott Library as a student employee. I was hired to help update their cataloging system which, at the time, was slowly transitioning from Dewey Decimal System to computers. Using an Apple IIE, I was tasked with accessing book records and changing an “A” to a “B”, a “B” to a “C”, and a “C” to a “D”. I still have no earthly idea what I was actually doing, but that’s very literally all I did day after day after day.
Still, one of the prettiest views of any college campus anywhere.
I eventually wound my way over to the School of Fine Arts, an archaic monolith of a building. I opened the door to BLDG 038 and was greeted (blasted) by a very familiar waft of mold and paint and turpentine. I knew this place in my bones and I felt it pull me through the doorway like a vaporous drug habit. Crossing that threshold was like stepping back in time. Nothing, and I mean nothing, had changed in the intervening twenty-seven years … except that none of the instructors who guided me are still teaching. I’m 1000% certain that there are paint drops on the floors of the art studios that belong to me.
The College of Fine Arts.
The painting studio … I recall quite a few solitary late nights in this room.
The building was largely empty except for the maintenance guy (who probably thought I was a creeper) and a professor who walked past who may be the sole living teacher who taught when I was a student. I recognized her name on her studio door but can’t say for sure if I ever had a class with her.
On my way out, I stopped by the office to ask whether or not the School of Fine Arts maintained a list of graduates? I suspected they did not, since I haven’t heard from the alumni association in at least twenty years. Sure enough, they did not. As I was turning to leave, a gentleman stopped me to ask when I graduated. “1993”, I replied. Turned out, he began his career as an art student shortly after I left. In response to one of his questions, I exclaimed, “It’s literally the same, everything is the same. Twenty-seven years later, nothing has changed!”
From the office, I heard a burst of laughter. I turned to see both of the women working in the office listening to our brief conversation … and laughing. The younger of the two was almost certainly a student and the look on her face simply said, “no shit.”
My next stop was across campus: the former Utah Museum of Natural History. The building is still there on President’s Circle, but it has since been extensively renovated and now houses the Science Building.
My longest student job was working the front desk and cash register for the museum. During the week, I worked with a lovely elderly woman named “Beth” who manned the information desk but, on the weekends, I always worked alone.
In addition to taking people’s money, I was responsible for opening and closing the museum, turning on all the lights, and making sure the displays were functioning. Among my fondest memories of being a student employee at the museum were early mornings when I was on my own. Just me and dinosaur bones. I would ride my mountain bike through the museum turning on all the lights and then bump down the main staircase just in time to unlock the front door … to let in the stunning girl who manned the gift shop. I loved this place.
The new Natural History Museum of Utah was moved to a spectacular location above campus in 2011 into an even more spectacular building dubbed the Rio Tinto Center.
I ended my campus tour with a walk across the street to find food. It was nice to see an old haunt still operating: The Pie Pizzeria—A grubby pizza joint located under the U Pharmacy across the street from the campus entrance on President’s Circle.
I can’t explain this photo.