Dear Orange Friends:
I have been scrambling to walk through every floor of every building on our campus this summer. I just want to get a sense of the spaces and the people working in them. I know many of you have been here for decades and know every nook and cranny. But for a newcomer a good way to learn is to systematically explore and to talk with the people I meet.
But sometimes I learn a lot even when a person is not there. One day earlier this month, I wandered around the basements in the Life Sciences Complex, and there I found another “only in Syracuse” treasure. Tucked away at the bottom of the Center for Science and Technology is a fascinating and fully equipped custom glassblowing laboratory. It is run by Sally Prasch, who I have not met. Yet to see her workspace is to be inspired. She custom designs and produces intricate and marvelous glass sculpture as well as equipment for science laboratories across Syracuse, at Le Moyne College and ESF–and also for labs at SUNY Binghamton and farther afield. And you can tell from her space that she is a real artist, both in her scientific work and in every other sense of the word. There is beauty both in her glass sculpture and in her scientific glass. Seeing the space made me want to take her classes.
I keep saying this, and I hope you forgive the repetition. Syracuse University has so many niches that are better than anywhere. Sally’s is just one more. We all need to treasure them.
Chancellor Kent Syverud