Friday, September 21, 2007

The University of Otago

The clocktower building at the University of Otago is the iconic building of the university. You may be observing a pattern in the photos on this blog, that in the late 1800s and early 1900s a number of buildings were built around Dunedin that used both light and dark stone. Near the clocktower building on campus there are several other buildings in a similar style, and the second photo shows one of the nearby buildings.


The dental school at the university was founded exactly 100 years ago in the building below. Dave figures the large windows provided light for the dental students to see their patients. The old dental school is now the staff club. I eat lunch here the two days a week that I work on campus. They have a wonderful salad bar for US$3.50.

The building below is the university library, which is terrific (in my opinion) both inside and outside. That same stone that makes a vertical design on the exterior is used inside as well on a dramatic wall that is two stories tall in a sort of atrium. There's one other very contemporary building on campus that also uses lots of glass.

Unfortunately about two thirds of the buildings on campus look more like the building below, which is where my office is. I'm on the second floor from the top, and my window is the third from the right.

The next photo is one of my favorite sights at the university. Sometimes I still can't believe that I have "Dr." in front of my name or that I have a place that honors my qualifications and wants me to teach.

Despite how horrible my building looks from the outside, I quite enjoy my office. You can sort of see my view of the roof of the library and a hillside of houses in the distance.

A group of women writers at the university asked me to join them. They call their group "Women Writing Theology." The two women on the right are graduate students in my department, one trying to develop a theology of contemporary worship and one studying role hierarchy in I Corinthians 11, both topics that are very interesting to me. The two women on the left are adjunct faculty members in my department, beyond retirement age but both still teaching and writing for academic publications, still learning and growing. I feel very grateful to have them as models as I age.


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