For these University of Redlands professors, the office is a home away from home.
Bill Southworth
Speech and Debate Professor
Gannett Center
Former use: A store room.
Major drawback: NO windows.
Design solution: I had murals put on two of the walls, one of New England fall, the other a golf hole. I’ve also moved stuff from my home to my office, including a wine cave (it holds about 300 bottles, and I use it for my May Term History of Wine course), a recliner and rocking chair.
Home away from home: My dog loves coming here and sitting in the recliner or on his bed. What would you change? Nothing. They offered to put a window in, but I said, “It’s perfect so leave it alone.”
Louanne Long
Artist Professor, Piano
School of Music
Inhabitant for: 53 years.
Favorite items: My two Steinway grand pianos! They are 6-foot twins! Serial numbers 264078 and 79, the pianos were hand built side-by-side in 1928 during Steinway’s golden decade.
Getting comfortable: In the early ’90s, Char Burgess donated the beautiful tan leather sofa.
Most personal meaning: Three Chopin items—a bronze bust, a facsimile edition of the autographed manuscript of his 24 Preludes, Opus 28, and his death mask—all gifts from Halina Jasiak, a cultural ambassador to the U.S. whom I met during my sabbatical in Poland in 2006.
Bill Huntley
Religion Professor
Larsen Hall
Inhabitant since: 1998 but from 1974-98 I was down the hall gathering up other supplies with which to decorate.
Favorite features: I like the big warm window and the extra book shelves.
Treasured items: The masks I bought in Indonesia and Japan.
How do students react? They seem to like the relaxed feeling. They ask sometimes, “Do you ever get to sleep here?”
What would you change? Maybe a skylight?
Art Svenson
Government Professor
Hall of Letters
Favorite features: The two large windows facing east. The office has the feel of one of those apartments overlooking Chicago’s Wrigley Field: It’s a good seat to watch the Bulldogs women’s team do their magic on the softball field. Go Dawgs!
Putting his stamp on it: The paint was the interior color of the Administration Building when orange was the new beige. I call it positive-energy orange. When I asked for paint, Facilities gave me the last two gallons of that color and off I went. I painted the office by myself in the summer of 1985.
Julie Townsend
Professor, Director, Johnston Center for Integrative Studies
Bekins-Holt Hall
Favorite feature: The view of the trees and the bunny that plays in the grass right outside!
Memories: This office has been home to Kathy Ogren and Kelly Hankin, so I have great memories of meetings in this office.
Favorite item: The bust of Jimmy Johnston and my poster from the 1987 AIDS fundraiser “Dancing for Life,” which I attended the day before my 18th birthday. Also drawings from my 4-year-old twins!
What would you change? Bekins would be made earthquake safe.
Hongwei Lu
Asian Studies Professor
Hall of Letters
Favorite item: The faded blue-and-white indigo cloth that covers my calligraphy table was my paternal grandmother’s package cloth. Every time I touch it, I feel a sense of connection with her, even though I never met her. She was illiterate and foot-bound and never went more than 10 miles beyond her mountain village in her life.
How does your office make students feel? My first-year seminar advisees said it gave them a feeling of “peaceful serenity.”
If you could change anything? I would turn my office into a classic Chinese scholar’s studio.
