It hardly seems possible, but it is true. Fifty years ago today, at the tender age of 21, I graduated from the School of Medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan with my degree in Medical Technology. I hadn't quite finished my education as I was doing a twelve month internship which would not end till the end of the month, but I went to the ceremony.
Here is a picture. This was during my red-head phase, lol.
I am only posting this so that you can see the lovely 'paint-by-number' artwork hanging in the living room of our home. I respectfully cut my sister out of the pic. No need to embarrass everyone.
Two weeks ago I went back to campus to celebrate my Golden Jubilee. This is a big year for the University. In 1968 I was part of the Centennial Class and you can see the logo in the lower right hand corner of my diploma. This year the school turns 150 and more parties are planned.
I started out my day on campus as a guest of the School of Business Administration where I received my MBA and where I have established a scholarship. Last week the school moved into its new building in downtown Detroit. Through a generous $40 million grant from Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch, a new building was constructed in his name. When they have the formal opening in the fall, I'll be back with another post. My name will be on the donor wall so I plan to attend.
I had a nice lunch with some other graduates from 1968 and then took a tour of a campus that is much changed from 1966 when I left. You see, my junior year was spent at the School of Medicine which was downtown and so was the hospital where I did my internship. So I only spent 1964-1966 on the main campus.
I took some photos and will share them with you. First up is the building where all the chemistry and biology lectures were held: DeRoy Auditorium. It is one of four buildings on campus designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who also designed the overall layout of the campus.
This building sits behind the present School of Business Administration (below), another Yamasaki. I only had one class in this building when I was at grad school since I took most of my classes at one of three satellite buildings in the suburbs.
If you look straight through that open area, you see DeRoy. When someone suggested putting a sculpture in the open area, Yamasaki said that his DeRoy building was the sculpture. Directly across the street from this is Detroit's Main Library.
The other two Yamasaki buildings are the Education Building, below,
and MacGregor Conference Center, seen below from the side.
Here is the more famous version of it.
This view of the newer honors college shows the walk and open areas that now fill the campus. A road ran through here when I was there. As a matter of fact, a few of us remembered that this area is where anti-war rallies would be held.
The Walter Reuther Library was there back in the mid-60's and I spent a good deal of time there. It was quiet. The old student union, which has since been torn down, was just too noisy.
The University has preserved and uses many of the old mansions and homes in the area.
Last but not least is Old Main, the original campus building from the College of Detroit. When I was a student, this building was brown. It was very dirty. Then several years ago they set about cleaning it. I had my locker in this building and also took a class in Balance and Movement here. I learned how to juggle. Seriously. Our final exam was completing an obstacle course. Timed.
Terra cotta trim that no one knew existed under the dirt.
In the coming weeks, I'll talk about some of our more accomplished alumni. What was once a commuter college in the city back when I attended, it is now a residential college with about 28,000 students. It has come a long way since 1868.
