As the University of Cincinnati celebrates its bicentennial, students, faculty, staff, and alumni look back on the university’s remarkable past and its progression as a pioneer in higher education. From the Temple of Zeus to the Hyperloop: University of Cincinnati Stories reflects the breadth and diversity of the University of Cincinnati over its rich and eventful history, emphasizing just what makes UC’s history so special and inspiring—its stories.
Former Ohio Governor Bob Taft remembers his law school days in a building named for his great-grandfather. Broadway star Faith Prince recalls her musical theater start at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. More than thirty-five contributors provide their own unique perceptions of this extraordinary urban university. Some are well-known names like Taft and Prince, while others are current students and alumni whose education and futures were profoundly shaped by memorable experiences connected to UC. Clark Beck recounts the struggles he initially faced upon coming to UC and offers readers an inspiring story of perseverance and tenacity. Sid Thatham gives a captivating tale of his move from India and the home base he made in Cincinnati with UC graduate students. Other contributors celebrate the relationships, such as that between the strong-willed duo of Jack Rouse and Helen Laird, that give UC its storied past.
In From the Temple of Zeus to the Hyperloop, anyone can find a person, whether it be the trailblazing Lucy Braun or the celebrated Carl Blegen, or a place, be it the changing landscape of Ludlow Avenue or the new frontier for the DAAP College, to which he or she can relate. Such figures, places, and stories present a sampling of the UC experience. From the Temple of Zeus to the Hyperloop offers readers an inside look at the many lives that have influenced UC and the opportunity to envision how their own stories can be a part of its future.
Just as Hand titles his introduction, “a dedicated crew of bearcats assembled this book,” the University of Cincinnati and its story continue to be a community effort, deeply intertwined with the lives of the people who have made up the university and its two-hundred years.
Essay 1: Introduction: How a Dedicated Crew of Bearcats Assembled This Book, with the Help of Willie Nelson, the New York Times, and the Good Folks of Granville, Ohio—Greg Hand
Essay 2: Books, Bricks—and ‘Potencie’—Kevin Grace
Essay 3: It Started with a Valentine: Archaeology at UC, Carl Blegen, and the Department of Classics—Jack L. Davis
Essay 4: William Howard Taft and the UC College of Law—Bob Taft
Essay 5: No One Has Ever Come For Dean Loueen Pattee—Anne Delano Steinert
Essay 6: On Hazel’s Diary—Janice Currie
Essay 7: A Force for Nature: E. Lucy Braun—Meg Hanrahan
Essay 8: Presidential Politics: Raymond Walters, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Photo Op That Never Developed—Robert Earnest Miller
Essay 9: A Brief History of Computing at the University of Cincinnati—Russell E. McMahon
Essay 10: My University of Cincinnati Journey—Clark Beck
Essay 11: UC Engineering: A Cauldron for Personal Transformation—Donald L. Vieth
Essay 12: Jazz in the Workshop: The Story of the “Queen City Suite”—Steven Lawrence Gilbert
Essay 13: Reflections—John Bryant
Essay 14: The Provost Doesn’t Call There Anymore—Jon Hughes
Essay 15: For the Record—Judy McCarty Kuhn
Essay 16: Where It All Began: A Very Short Play with Some Music, Wherein the University of Cincinnati Is Revealed to Be the Most Unlikely Place for the Nation’s First Musical Theater Program—Jack Rouse with Helen Laird
Essay 17: Introduction to UC and Cincinnati: The 1972 New Faculty Orientation—Edna S. Kaneshiro
Essay 18: Working with Warren Bennis—Bill Mulvihill
Essay 19: Introductions: My UC Story 1973-1979—Julia Montier-Ball
Essay 20: RAPP: Changing Attitudes—One Mind at a Time—Marianne Kunnen-Jones
Essay 21: Memories of David Blackburn—Sarah Jessica Parker
Essay 22: A Celebration of the Arts in Cincinnati—Jim Cummins
Essay 23: My Quest for a Just Community—Mitchel D. Livingston
Essay 24: Of Structures and Spaces and Structural Spaces: DAAP’s Genesis of New Architecture at UC and Cincinnati—Jay Chatterjee
Essay 25: UC: An Urbanist University—Terry Grundy
Essay 26: Confessions of a Famous Jingle Scientist—James J. Kellaris
Essay 27: My Search for H.M. Griffin—Paulette Penzvalto
Essay 28: Cincinnati Storystorm—Julialicia Case
Essay 29: Serendipity and Stewardship: The Preservation Lab—Holly Prochaska
Essay 30: The Challenges of Creating the Bearcat Transportation System—Jerry P. Tsai
Essay 31: From International Student to Bearcat for Life—Sid Thatham
Essay 32: Vignettes from a Corner of Café Momus—Vidita Kanniks
Essay 33: DAAP Slapped—Victoria Fromme
Essay 34: Embracing the Uncertainty of Life—Faith Prince
Essay 35: The Ultimate UC Trivia Quiz—Kevin Grace and Greg Hand
