A glimpse into campus offices at Augustana
After teaching classes or engaging in campus events, professors and staff retreat to their safe havens in their respective hallways, usually with a door open, in the hope that a student will miraculously swing by for office hours. Instead, I chatted with them about their decor.
Having all my classes in the Fryxell Humanities Center, I was already in the area, so I approached Associate Professor of English Sarah B. Rude’s room.
Rude has had her office for her entire six years at Augustana. She specializes primarily in medieval literature and has the trinkets to prove it. The most noticeable item, and the first one sees upon entering her office, is a sword.
“As an undergrad, I took a King Arthur class, and we went out to all of the King Arthur sites,” Rude said. “We started in London, and we worked our way across Tintagel, supposedly where King Arthur was born. And then at the tourist shop, this is where I procured the sword.”
The item, mounted next to framed medieval storybook art and underneath a doctorate from Baylor University, brings back fond memories of her education, travels and the challenge of bringing sharpened memorabilia from England to the United States through TSA.
“This makes me feel like I have a lot of clutter in my office, but also not, when I can so clearly remember [the stories behind each item], like, commemorating an event,” Rude said. “Yes, this is memorabilia that comes with a life, and I’m okay with that, and someday, I will be less okay as I have to clean up this office and retire and move out.”
The topic of clutter took me to the Froiland Science Complex (FSC), home to another highly decorated room. Inside was Associate Professor of Biology and Ecologist Amy Lewis.
Lewis has had her office for seven of her 19 years at Augustana, since the FSC was built. Specializing in the research of birds, her office is naturally decorated with them: different species expressed through figurines, photographs and other keepsakes.
“It’s been a gradual thing,” Lewis said. “At first, really all I had was magnets on a file cabinet because that was really all I had room for. Then students started giving me things.”
The majority of her items were gifts from past students, such as a collection of multi-colored wood-carved birds from India hung on her wall, gifted by former student Vedant Thakkar, alongside a traditional Afghan vest from previous student Palwasha Ali.
“I always wear vests,” Lewis said. “Well, if I’m not wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and sometimes plaid, but vests are a big thing. So she got me that, and it’s a little too small for me, so I hang it on the wall.”
Lewis’s office held literal pieces of memories; however, not every item in the office was equally as serious — an honorable mention was a thin, brown, mustache-shaped stuffed animal that sat atop a shelf. Lewis eagerly took it down.
“That is the organism that gives you diarrhea,” Lewis said.
After learning about everything from birds to Campylobacter jejuni, I had one last stop to make where, surely, a diarrhea stuffed animal could not be found: the chapel.
Pastor Ann Rosendale’s space looks a little different than others. For starters, it is massive — about triple the size of Lewis’s set-up. The neatly decorated room features several floor-to-ceiling windows creating the perfect book-nook, with two sofas sitting in the main area.
Rosendale started my tour with a sign atop a small table that read “Black bodies are made in the image of God.”
“When George Floyd was murdered, there was a protest here in Sioux Falls that I wanted to go to,” Rosendale said. “It was also in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and my children were very young. My daughter in particular had some complex medical needs, and I was pretty nervous about being in large crowds, but I was also passionate about lifting up the name of George Floyd and ways that black people and black and brown bodies are mistreated all the time.”
Knowing how badly Rosendale wanted to attend, a friend made the sign and carried it in her place.
“It’s a reminder of, I don’t know, all sorts of things — hard times and important theology,” Rosendale said.
Rosendale’s faith echoed throughout the room, such as to the right of the table: a pink, velvet statue of Jesus, doubling as a magic eight ball.
Former Professor of Religion Ann Milliken Pederson procured “Pink Jesus.” She served briefly as interim campus pastor from 2009-2010 and would pass the statue around chapel staff. Rosendale said the tradition continues.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from snooping around in the office spaces of Augustana, it is that professors are much more than academics. Every item placed on a desk, door or shelf is done so with intention, and there’s a story behind each one; all you have to do is ask.
